With You
by Draven Star
Summary: Vader's most trusted agent is a teenage girl, Tara, whom he doesn't yet know is his & Padmé's third child. Another of my older stories that isn't good, and has some grammar and spelling mistakes.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Star Wars and the characters from the books and movies. George Lucas does.  
  
NOTE: This story is somewhat AU - Vader already knows about both of the twins, not just Luke.  
  
Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
-- Another NOTE: The prologue of this story is sort of similar to the beginning of Always, No Matter What (which is also written by me, just so you know I'm not copying), with the twins being born on Padmé and Anakin's anniversary.  
  
== Prologue ==  
  
( after Vader's turning, but before the fight with Obi-Wan )  
  
Padmé's eyes opened, and she sat up, surrounded in the darkness of her bedroom. She'd just had another nightmare. It was the third one that she'd had this week. She reached for her chronowatch, which was lying on the small table next to her bed. It was one-thirty AM. She sighed and put the watch back on the table, and leaned back against the pillows. Most likely, she would have trouble falling asleep again.  
  
Since it was very early morning, that meant that today was...Padmé remembered it. Today was both an anniversary and a birthday, well, two birthdays. By some coincedence, Luke and Leia - the precious twins - had been born on the one-year-anniversary of Padmé and Anakin's wedding. Anakin, though, hadn't been around to see their birth. He had become Darth Vader before Padmé's seventh month of pregnancy was over. Luke and Leia had never gotten to meet their father...  
  
Padmé shook the thought away. She wondered about Luke. He was on Tattooine, with Beru and Owen. She had only seen him three times since his and Leia's birth. She had also visited Leia twice, on Alderaan. Leia was being raised by Bail Organa. Padmé had known, when she had visited them those few times, that she was taking a serious risk. After her most recent visit to Leia, she had decided that she simply couldn't visit either of the twins anymore. It was too dangerous.  
  
Today was their sixth birthday, and she couldn't see them.  
  
Padmé closed her eyes. After ten minutes or so, she almost fell asleep again, when she heard a noise from downstairs. Then she heard another. It sounded like footsteps.  
  
{ Don't panic. } she told herself. She had a blaster hidden under the bed. But suddenly, her bedroom door opened, before she could reach for it.  
  
The moonlight coming in from the window reflected on the face of the intruder. He quietly shut the door behind him, and smiled at Padmé.  
  
"Vader..." Padmé didn't know what to say, or how to greet him. She was terrified. She wondered how he had found her small hidden house.  
  
{ Well, you did choose to hide on Naboo - your native planet, genius. } she thought to herself.  
  
"Hello," Darth Vader greeted her.  
  
"Why are you here? I don't have the twins," Padmé said.  
  
"I know that you don't. I'm here for you."  
  
"What? What do you mean?"  
  
"I wanted to see you," Vader said. He was standing near Padmé's dresser now. On the top of the dresser were four holographs of her and Anakin. Vader picked up one, which they had taken right after their wedding. He stared at it for a moment, then put it back on the dresser.  
  
"See me?" asked Padmé, not quite understanding.  
  
"Yes," Vader answered. He turned to face her, and came over to the bed. He sat down on the side, near her. Padmé only trembled more.  
  
"You tracked me down just to come here and visit me?" Padmé asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To see you," Vader said again, knowing that it wasn't a clear answer.  
  
"Oh," Padmé said. She decided not to ask any more questions, since Vader probably wouldn't give her a real answer. She sighed. She was tired. It was almost two o' clock AM now.  
  
"Go to sleep, Padmé. I'll be here when you wake up," Vader said. His voice sounded almost...soothing.  
  
"Aren't you tired?"  
  
"Slightly."  
  
Padmé sighed. She still couldn't believe that he was here, and if really wasn't, then at least this was a somewhat good dream. She could at least try to enjoy it, even if she woke up tomorrow and found that Vader was gone.  
  
"Here. Come in," she said, moving over in the bed. Vader looked at her for a second, then took off his boots and his black Sith robes. He crawled into the bed, beside Padmé, and let her rest her head on his chest. A few moments later, they were both asleep.  
  
----------   
  
Padmé woke up again at eleven-thirty. She was still snuggled next to Vader, who hadn't woken up yet. He was really was here. It hadn't been a dream. Padmé smiled, and didn't get out of bed. She decided to just lay here and listen to Vader's heartbeat until he woke up. He seemed so peaceful, and Padmé could close her eyes and almost forget that this man and his Master were beginning to be the most feared figures in the entire galaxy. It was almost as if Anakin were here again. Padmé reached up and touched a strand of his blonde hair. He didn't stir. She settled back against his chest again.  
  
----------   
  
Vader woke up late, a few minutes before one o' clock. Padmé didn't mind. She figured that he probably hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately, and that this may have been the first time in several weeks, or months, that he had been able to sleep for more than a couple of hours.  
  
"Hey," she said softly.  
  
"Hi," Vader replied, equally softly.  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"If you won't tell me exactly why you came here, will you at least tell me how long you can stay?" Padmé asked, hoping that the question didn't annoy him.  
  
Vader looked at her for a moment. "A little more than a week. Two weeks, at the most."  
  
Padmé smiled to show him that she was glad he had come, even though she didn't really know why, and even though it was only for a couple of weeks. She reached over and kissed his cheek, a little nervously, but Vader didn't seem to mind. He reached for her and kissed her in return.  
  
----------   
  
Padmé laughed all of a sudden.  
  
"What is it?" Vader asked, letting her rest her head on his chest again.  
  
"I was just thinking," Padmé answered, "of how I've spent the last few years in hiding - and living in this house, to hide from you. Now, when I actually feel safe for the first time in a long while, it's because you're here."  
  
Vader nodded, silently. Padmé sat up and reached for her white nightgown. She was about to put it back on, but paused when she noticed something about Vader. On the lower left side of his chest, near his abdomen, was a small scar. It was only an inch or two long, and wasn't too noticeable, but looked as if it had been a somewhat painful wound.  
  
"What happened?" she asked, gently touching the scar.  
  
"I don't know," Vader answered. "I've had that since I was a child."  
  
Padmé nodded. She hadn't noticed the scar before during her time with Anakin. Or maybe she had, but had forgotten about it.  
  
"Happy anniversary," Vader said, surprising her.  
  
"Oh..thank you. You too." Padmé smiled. She thought of Luke and Leia again, wishing that she could see them.  
  
"So do I," said Vader. It took Padmé a moment to realize that he had read her mind.  
  
"They're six now," she replied, smiling again. Then her smile faded, and her face became more worried. "Did you find them?"  
  
"No," Vader answered. "I don't want the Emperor to discover them. If I find them, then he'll probably learn about them."  
  
"I know," Padmé said quietly. "Thank you...for helping to keep him away from them, I mean."  
  
Vader said nothing, but he smiled at her. This time, it wasn't his cruel, scary, chilling smile. It was a bit more...warm. Padmé hugged him, and he even returned the hug. 


	2. Chapter One: Searching For Luke

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter One ==  
  
( now somewhere between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi )  
  
"Yes, my Master," said Tara. The blue-gray image of Darth Vader faded away. Luckily, this was one of the times when she was only speaking to him by holograph, not in person.  
  
Today was Tara Adrien's sixteenth birthday. Tomorrow would be exactly two years since the day she'd started working for Vader, and definately not of her own will. He had discovered her on Coruscant - which was actually re-named Imperial Center now and had been for years, but almost everyone still called it Coruscant anyway, even most of the Imperials.  
  
Sighing, Tara turned her attention back to her small ship's controls as it began to come out of hyperspace. Whenever she contacted Vader, she always did so inside the ship, not in her Tattooine apartment, although she was pretty sure that Vader could easily trace her apartment's location anyway. She couldn't think of why he'd want to, though.  
  
As Tattooine came into view and she prepared the ship for landing, Tara tried to think of how she was going to track down Luke Skywalker and his companions. Luke was a Jedi. Tara didn't doubt that some of Vader's other agents, not just herself, had also been sent to look for him. She didn't care, as long as Vader wouldn't be angry when one of the other agents found him before she did. Then again, if he specifically wanted Tara to find Luke, he wouldn't send out anyone else.  
  
{ Don't make this harder than it sounds. It's not the first time you've tracked someone. } Tara told herself. This would probably end up being simple - just find out where Luke and his friends currently were, then contact her master and tell him. Easy, hopefully. Vader had never sent her after a Jedi before. For her sake, she hoped she wouldn't fail him.  
  
-----  
  
While Tara was worrying about failing, Darth Vader, in his chambers on his Star Destroyer, was also thinking about her at the moment.  
  
Although Tara Adrien was only fourteen when Vader first discovered her, she had been a lucky find. Not only had he sensed that she was Force-strong, she also already knew a lot about ships, piloting, those kinds of things. She hadn't really needed any training, at least, not yet. Out of all of Vader's agents and spies, she could probably be trusted the most. She was the only one that directly called him "Master" instead of "My Lord".  
  
Tara was about five-foot-six, with blue eyes and blonde hair that was almost down to her waist now. As far as Vader knew, she was completely oblivious to her potential with the Force, though she did have some knowledge about what it was, which was good. After Vader found the twins and they joined him, Luke could probably work with her and Leia.  
  
Leia. There had been a short period when Vader couldn't stand the sight of his daughter, simply because she looked so much like her mother. But he had managed to get himself used to her - he couldn't allow himself to be bothered by every single brown-haired, brown-eyed girl in the galaxy. Now, he saw Leia's resemblance to her mother with much less negativity. 


	3. Chapter Two: The Café And Some Dreams

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Two ==  
  
Tara was surprised, at first, to learn that Luke, Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian, and a Wookie were going to Tattooine. Then again, it did make sense. As far as Tara knew, carbonite-frozen Han Solo - another member of Luke's little group - had been taken by Boba Fett, who was going to bring him to Jabba the Hutt for a bounty. Jabba's palace was on Tattooine.  
  
First, Tara contacted her master by holograph to inform him that she'd found Luke.  
  
"Continue tracking them," Vader said. "Until I contact you again."  
  
"Yes, Master," said Tara. Tara's voice had a thick, beautiful accent. She was a Tattooine native.  
  
Tara wasn't sure if it was bad or good that Luke and his friends were going to be on the same planet where she lived, but for now, it was good that she could follow them more easily while they were here. She knew the planet's few spaceports and towns pretty well, especially Mos Eisley, where she lived. She didn't think that Luke and the others were going to be staying in one of those places, though. Luke might have an isolated house somewhere.  
  
For now, at least, she had managed to find out that they were going to be right here in Mos Eisley. They had probably rented a couple of hotel rooms for tonight, even if they were going somewhere else tomorrow.  
  
It was dark outside when Tara entered her apartment. The place was small, but it didn't bother her, since she was the only person living here. She'd gotten it when she was only fourteen, days before Darth Vader had first found her. She'd had to lie that she was sixteen at the time, but the Toydarian who owned the small apartment complex hadn't even asked her for much identification - just keeping paying the rent on time and the apartment was yours. Tara was as happy as she could be in her little home.  
  
One reason that she'd left home so early was that she'd wanted to try and apply at one of Tattooine's only decent academies. Her father, Kitster, and mother, Trehna, had wanted her to wait another year or two, of course. Tara knew that they were trying to keep her here as long as possible, and maybe she could have waited a little longer, but then she'd realized that it would be pointless. Whenever she was fifteen, then sixteen, then seventeen, she would just keep having the same don't-go-to-the-Academy arguement with her parents. It wouldn't make much of a difference if she left a bit early.  
  
How ironic. She had moved out on her own so that she could begin being independent and doing what she wanted to do with her life - starting with going to the Academy - and then she had been found by Darth Vader.  
  
Sighing, Tara pushed away the memories for now. She needed to take a shower and get dressed before going out to follow Luke and the others. Like any spy or agent who knew what they were doing, Tara dressed like a perfectly normal person. The fact that she was a teenage girl made it even more easy. She looked harmless.  
  
------  
  
Leia shrieked, though not as loudly as she usually did when she was startled. Chewbacca growled about something and Lando laughed.  
  
"It's just a cute little rat," Luke said, putting his arm around her.  
  
"Cute?" Leia asked, staring at him. But then she smiled, too. "So where are we going to stay for tonight?"  
  
"The most decent hotels in Mos Eisley are Starlight Rock and The Golden Moon," said Luke. "They're both about the same price. Starlight Rock is cleanest."  
  
"We're going there, then," said Leia. She wondered what the "cleanest" hotels in this place looked like - only two or three holes in the ceiling, and just one or two roaches in each room? And what kind of security? She would have felt a bit better if Artoo was here, since he was always useful somehow. But to be safe, they had left C-3PO and R2-D2 on the Millenium Falcon. The droids could alert them if anything went wrong, and then they wouldn't have to worry about which places did and didn't allow droids.  
  
{ Well, I shouldn't worry about security. I have a Jedi Knight with me. } thought Leia, glancing at Luke for a second. He returned the look for a moment, but then realized that his arm was still around her shoulders as they walked. He removed it. After hearing that Leia had said "I love you" to Han before he was frozen in the carbonite, he doubted that he was going to have anymore trouble sorting out his feelings for Leia. Leia was with Han, and that was perfectly fine with Luke.  
  
Still, there was something about Leia. Luke didn't know what it was. He liked her, a lot, but he also was glad that she was with Han. That was odd, but he'd have to figure it out later, after they'd rescued Han.  
  
{ I can add that to my list of Things To Deal With. } Luke thought. { Finding Han, completing the Jedi training, figuring out my feelings for Leia, helping the rest of the Rebellion defeat the Empire, and...Darth Vader. }  
  
"Don't worry," he said to Leia. He realized, though, that he was also saying it to try and comfort himself as well.  
  
He started to put his arm around her shoulders again, but stopped himself. Leia didn't seem to notice. She was quiet now, looking as if she were deeply, sadly in thought, most likely about Han.  
  
When they finally reached the Starlight Rock hotel, they rented two rooms. Luke and Leia stayed in one; Lando and Chewbacca in the other.  
  
-----  
  
After an hour, or maybe a little more, Leia still felt restless. She knew she should try to get some rest, and she did feel tired, but she just couldn't get to sleep. Luke, on the other hand, felt very awake for some reason. Maybe it was because he had the job of watching over Leia, though he didn't mind doing so, of course. He agreed to sleep on the couch, so he could be closer to the door of the hotel room. Leia stayed in the bedroom in the back.  
  
He noticed her restlessness when she came out.  
  
"There's a café downstairs," he said to her, "near the hotel's lobby. Do you wanna go get a drink?"  
  
"Sure," said Leia.  
  
They first went next door to see if Lando or Chewbacca wanted to go. Lando didn't, and Wookies didn't drink much coffee or hot tea. When they reached the café, both Leia and Luke ordered some kind of tea that came from Dantooine. It was expensive; twelve credits for a large cup.  
  
Leia looked around, scanning the café for a place to sit. There were only about ten tables, and almost all of them were filled.  
  
"What about over there?" Luke said, gesturing to a table in the corner of the room. As soon as she said so, though, a pair of Twi'leks approached it and sat down.  
  
"Damn," said Leia.  
  
"You can take my seat."  
  
Luke and Leia both turned to look at the girl. She was dressed in black boots, a somewhat short black skirt, and a red long-sleeved shirt. She smiled at them with surprising...kindness. Whenever most strangers that you encountered in Mos Eisley gave you a big, nice smile, it usually meant they were about to trick or scam you. But this girl's smile was different somehow.  
  
"Thank you," said Leia. "Are you sure that you don't want it?"  
  
"I don't need it," the girl replied, brushing a strand of her blonde hair away from her face. Her voice's accent was beautiful. "I'm about to leave, anyway."  
  
"Alright. Thank you," said Luke. He said it kindly, but Leia thought she saw him look confused about something, just for a second. Maybe she'd imagined it.  
  
"Of course." Tara gave them another quick smile, then left. As soon as she was gone, Leia laughed softly.  
  
"What?" Luke asked as they sat down.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Tell me."  
  
"I saw the way you stared at her," Leia said, taking a sip of the hot tea.  
  
"I wasn't staring," said Luke. "Why? Are you jealous?"  
  
"Should I be?"  
  
"No, not actually," Luke said. "You're just as beautiful as that girl was."  
  
"Thanks," said Leia. Her voice was a bit more hesitant this time. Neither of them wanted to approached the topic of how they felt about each other. Luke tried to think of another subject to bring up. He wasn't going to openly talk about going to Jabba the Hutt's palace and rescuing Han Solo, not while they were in a café. It was mostly quiet and calm in here. If they were in a loud, busy club or casino, then they'd be able to whisper to each other without looking obvious.  
  
"So, is this where you grew up?" Leia asked, finally bringing up something for them to talk about. She didn't want to directly mention Luke's aunt and uncle, though. He'd told her about their deaths.  
  
"It was near here," answered Luke. He guessed that Leia was trying not to bring up Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. To avoid the awkwardness, he went ahead and did so.  
  
"When I was younger," he said, "sometimes I'd wake up very early - around two o' clock in the morning, and come here to hang out with my friends. I always had to be back home before six o' clock, though, since my aunt and uncle usually woke up then.  
  
Leia nodded. "Did they ever find out that you snuck off like that?"  
  
"Nope. Not once," answered Luke, adding a small, mischevious smile. Despite starting to feel a little tired now, Leia laughed softly again. It didn't last long, though.  
  
{ I wish Han was here. }  
  
Luke caught the thought in Leia's mind. He hadn't yet told her that he could read minds as part of his Jedi abilities, but he rarely ever read hers anyway, out of respect for her.  
  
"We're going to find him," he said softly.  
  
For now, Leia didn't seem to to think it was weird that he'd known she was just thinking about Han. She smiled briefly at him, but it was a tired, sad smile. Luke almost reached over and put one of his hands on hers, but changed his mind. No more awkward signs of affection for tonight.  
  
-----  
  
It wasn't the first time that Tara had had this dream. Two or three times before, she'd had it, or something similar to it.  
  
She was back at her old house in Mos Eisley, with Kitster and Trehna, her parents. They were having a family gathering today. Maybe it was a holiday or someone's birthday; she wasn't able to tell. She went into the kitchen to help Trehna.  
  
"I'll set the table, Mom," Tara offered.  
  
Trehna took a few glasses out of the cabinets and starting setting them on the table.  
  
"Mom, I just said I'd do it."  
  
Trehna said nothing. Tara turned and went to the next room. Kitster was there, along with his two sisters and their husbands - Tara's aunts and uncles - and a couple of Tara's cousins. None of them looked up or greeted her. Kitster said something and they all laughed.  
  
"Hi, Keli," Tara tried, glancing at her youngest cousin.  
  
For a second, Keli stared back. Tara almost thought that she might have actually heard her, but then she turned away and started playfully arguing with her brother about something. Keli's mother, in the middle of telling Kitster something, paused for a moment and told them to stop.  
  
"Does anyone see me?" Tara asked.  
  
When she'd first had this dream, it was at this point that she realized none of her relatives could see or hear her. Now, she had already semi-conciously known that they were ignoring her, but she still tried to talk to them anyway.  
  
One of Tara's uncles suddenly said something - she hadn't really heard all of it - but she caught the last part. This hadn't been in the dream before.  
  
"...when you and Trehna have children," he said. Kitster laughed.  
  
"They do have a child!" Tara said to her uncle. "Me."  
  
As she had expected, no one looked at her. After a few more minutes, everyone left the living room and went into the kitchen. This was a part of the dream that Tara was more familiar with. At the table, there were eight seats - a spot for everyone except her.  
  
-----  
  
Darth Vader rarely dreamed anymore. At least, he rarely had any dreams that he actually remembered after awakening.  
  
The last dream he'd remembered clearly had been about two months ago. It had been something about Padmé wearing a light-green dress and walking around in a field somewhere. It had started raining heavily, but she hadn't cared. She'd continued walking, even as her dress and her hair were soaked. That was one strange thing that Vader had taken the time to notice about his dreams - the weather and how Padmé's outfits weren't ever suited for it. In another dream, she'd been wearing a black pants and a thick, warm red sweater, with a jacket over that, while on Tattooine.  
  
Tonight, in this dream, there was snow. It was winter on Naboo, Alderaan, some peaceful planet similar to those. Vader himself was there, too, only he didn't have his armor. He was younger, too, though he wasn't yet sure if he was Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader. He was in a large meadow that would probably be covered with flowers whenever spring came.  
  
He turned as Padmé approached him. As usual, her choice clothing was odd. She was wearing a short, sleeveless black dress. She smiled and ran up to him, not bothered at all by the freezing cold weather. He caught her in her arms and hugged her tightly. Now he recognized the black robes and the black cloak he was wearing. He was Darth Vader.  
  
"Let's go swimming later," Padmé said softly.   
  
"Very well," said Vader. It was ridiculous, of course. Whatever lake or river they were near, it had to be frozen in this weather. But he gave Padmé a brief, almost warm smile and brushed a few flakes of snow out of her hair.  
  
"I love you, Anakin," she said, looking up into his eyes.  
  
{ Anakin? She knows not to call me that. }  
  
But without correcting her, Vader just replied "I love you, too, Padmé."  
  
-----  
  
Leia didn't remember much of her dream when she woke up, except for one small part of it. She and Han had been in a room somewhere, like a lounge in a fancy hotel, and one of the maids had come in to ask if they needed anything. The maid was a human woman with long, brown hair. She looked familiar to Leia, though she had no idea where she'd last seen her.  
  
"Leia?" said Luke, gently shaking her. He was sitting on the edge of the bed.  
  
Already awake, Leia opened her eyes. "Good morning."  
  
"Good morning." Luke quickly kissed her cheek, figuring it couldn't do that much harm. "Lando and I are going to that café downstairs. I thought you'd want to come."  
  
"Alright," said Leia.  
  
-----  
  
Tara left the hotel room she'd rented - which wasn't on the same floor as the rooms that Luke and the others were staying in - and went downstairs to the café. She needed some kind of coffee or something.  
  
She thought about the dream she'd had again last night. She had guessed that maybe she kept having it because of how different she looked.  
  
While Tara was blonde-haired and blue-eyed, with fair skin, both of her parents - and her aunts, uncles, and cousins - had dark hair and brown eyes, and slightly tan skin. As soon as she was eleven or twelve, Tara had begun suspecting that she was adopted.  
  
"Why don't I look like you and Dad?" she had asked her mother one afternoon, on her thirteenth birthday.  
  
Trehna was quiet at first, but said "I think you do."  
  
"No, I don't," said Tara. "I'm blonde. I have blue eyes. Look at you and Dad."  
  
"Those blue eyes came from your grandfather," Trehna told her.  
  
"His eyes are brown."  
  
"Not my father. Your father's father. He died when you were only two or three. You probably don't remember meeting him."  
  
Tara had simply shrugged, deciding that Trehna wasn't going to tell her much else.  
  
A few days later, Tara was helping her father clean out one of the house's two storage rooms. While clearing off a shelf, she found a box that looked worn out. She opened it and found a few holographs inside. She picked up one of them, which showed a twenty-something-year-old man holding a boy that appeared to be around two or three years old.  
  
"Dad, who's this?" asked Tara, showing the holograph to Kitster.  
  
Kitster took it from her. "I'm glad you found those pictures, Tara. I was wondering where they were."  
  
"But who is that?"  
  
"That's me with my father - your other grandfather. He died when you were little."  
  
"Yeah, Mom told me," Tara said faintly. She studied the holograph, looking at her grandfather.  
  
His eyes were brown, not blue.  
  
Tara sighed as she entered the hotel's café. She still suspected - no, she was certain - that she was adopted. But Trehna and Kitster had never officially told her. She guessed that maybe they had never decided on a good time to tell her, or maybe they didn't want to tell her because she might not think of them as her parents afterwards, not the way she had before. But she wouldn't have looked at them differently. She just wanted them to be honest with her.  
  
She ordered a coffee and looked around for an empty table. They all seemed to be taken.  
  
"Hey," said a voice.  
  
Tara turned around to see Luke Skywalker. She briefly thought of Darth Vader.  
  
"Aren't you the girl we met here last night?" Luke asked. "You let my friend and I have your table?"  
  
Tara hesitated at first, pretending that she was trying to remember. Then she smiled. "Oh, yes."  
  
"My friends and I are sitting over there," Luke replied, indicating a table in the corner of the room. Leia Organa and Lando Calrissian were sitting at it. "You can join us if you want."  
  
Tara hesistated again, but it wasn't an act this time. Would it be bad if she joined them? She usually didn't interact with those that she spied on. But Vader had told her to continue following Luke and the others. This would at least make it a little more easy to keep up with them.  
  
"Alright. Thank you," she said, smiling at Luke again. 


	4. Chapter Three: Reminiscing

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
Author's Note: I'm sure all of you know this already, but the Twi'lek dancer who is fed to the rancor, at the beginning of Return Of The Jedi, is named Oola. I wanted to give her a small part in this story since I've always liked her and I hate how she has to die in the movie. Anyway, she's in a flashback in this chapter, so just assume that in the flashback, she was still free and wasn't yet one of Jabba's dancers :)  
  
== Chapter Three ==  
  
Last night, when Leia and Luke had first met the blonde-haired girl and she offered them her table, he had sensed it. Now, as he and the girl sat down with Lando and Leia, he sensed it again and was positive of it this time. The girl was Force-strong.  
  
"You have a beautiful accent, Tara," Leia was saying. "Where are you from?"  
  
"Here," answered Tara. When they'd asked what her name was, she had briefly considered answering with some fake name, but then realized that Luke - who was sitting right next to her - would sense it if she lied about anything. Hopefully, none of them would ask a lot of questions about what kind of work she did.  
  
She decided to start asking questions next, even though she already knew the answers. If she didn't, and remained too quiet, it might seem a little weird.  
  
"Are you three from here?" she asked.  
  
"No," answered Luke. "Well, I am, but Leia and Lando aren't."  
  
Tara nodded and sipped her coffee. She remembered to keep her voice casual and polite, so that she wouldn't sound overly-inquisitive. "So what brings you out here, then?"  
  
All three of them noticeably hesitated. Finally, Leia answered "Just visiting a friend and picking him up. Then we're going home."  
  
"What about you?" Lando asked Tara. Although Tara had said she was from here, they must not have gotten the impression that she actually lived here.  
  
"Visiting some friends, too," she answered. { Damnit. Luke's going to sense that I just lied. }  
  
But Luke didn't give her any suspicious looks. Then again, just because he didn't show any suspicion didn't mean that he didn't have any. She needed to be more careful.  
  
"Really? Where do they live?" asked Leia.  
  
"A few miles east of here," said Tara, thinking of Jabba's palace, which was actually more than just a few miles away. She regretted giving that answer. Luke had to be picking up on her dishonesty now, though he still didn't show it. She had to follow them, anyway, but didn't want to actually go to the palace with them. She needed to get out of here. She glanced down at the chronowatch on her wrist.  
  
"Shit," she said, as if she'd just remembered something important. If Luke wasn't buying her act, at least Leia and Lando were for now, until Luke told them about it later. "I've got to go. I'm going to be late."  
  
"It was nice meeting you," said Leia.  
  
"You, too," Tara replied, smiling politely as she stood up.  
  
Luke looked at her. "Maybe we'll see you around."  
  
"Maybe. Have fun." Tara smiled at them again and left.  
  
-----  
  
The Emperor himself was going to the half-finished Death Star, although for now, he had not instructed Darth Vader to come as well. Vader had thought that was somewhat strange at first, but he wasn't completely bothered by it. He did prefer to remain on his Star Destroyer.  
  
Inside his chambers, he was taking a few moments to breathe without the mask. So far, his record was about six-and-a-half minutes. Right now, though, he stopped after only six, and let the machine put his helmet back into place. He didn't feel like pushing it right now.  
  
Soon. Soon he, Luke, and Leia would get rid of the Emperor. In less than a week, probably. The Emperor believed Vader was searching for his son, which was only partially true, since Vader had Tara keeping an eye on him. And, fortunately, the Emperor didn't know that Luke had a twin sister. He was also under the impression that Vader wouldn't know, either.  
  
And Tara. The Emperor knew, of course, that Vader had his own spies and agents - pretty much every powerful ruler did. But the Emperor had never met Tara, and if he'd sensed a "disturbance" from her, as he had with Luke, he hadn't told Vader about it. Vader wasn't worried about Tara being discovered. She could help him, Leia, and Luke if it was needed, though he preferred that the Emperor's killing be done by only himself and the twins, as a family revenge thing.  
  
Padmé.  
  
She was probably the biggest - if not the only - reason that Vader had even gotten out of the volcano after his fight with Obi-Wan. The thought of his angel had given Vader enough will to survive it. He had decided that he would go to her hidden house again, but not to simply visit her for two weeks, like he had last time. He would take her to live with him, and could make sure that the Emperor did not find out she was with him again.  
  
Padmé, Vader knew, wouldn't care how bad he looked after getting out of the volcano. But after only two weeks in his new armor, Vader had learned, from the Emperor, that she was dead. He hadn't believed it at first, of course, not even coming from Palpatine, whom Vader trusted and liked much more at the time.  
  
But whether or not it was true, Vader had not been able to find Padmé or make any contact with her since he'd visited her for those two weeks, years ago. Something was wrong that. If Padmé had even the faintest idea that Vader was trying to reach her, she'd respond to him. Whatever had happened to make her disappear - Vader preferred to think of the situation with the word "disappeared" rather than "died" - the Emperor must have had something to do with it.  
  
Vader felt his anger rise. Even today, after all these years, he probably wouldn't believe Padmé was dead until he actually saw her dead body with his own eyes, not by hearing about it from a secondhand source or being shown a holograph. If he found a grave with her name on it, he wouldn't hesitate to having it dug up so that he could open the coffin and make sure it was actually her inside.  
  
A quick, double-beep sounded, meaning that someone had just entered his chambers. Using a mind trick, Vader pushed a button that made the top and bottom jaws of his egg-shaped chamber open.  
  
Admiral Piett was there. Whatever it was, it had better be important. Vader was not in the mood to be disturbed right now.  
  
"What is it, Admiral?" he asked, as a couple of images of Padmé still lingered around in the front of his mind. His dreams and memories of her were always so vivid and clear in his mind, like holographs or holomovies, even after so many years. He was glad for that.  
  
"A transmission for you, my Lord, is coming from Tattooine," Piett answered.  
  
Tattooine. It must be from Tara, then. Vader told the admiral to signal it to his chambers.  
  
"Yes, my Lord," said Piett. He bowed and quickly left.  
  
The jaws of the chamber closed again, and Vader turned to face the viewing screen on one of its walls. Even though the signal was coming all the way from Tattooine, Tara's image was still in color and was mostly clear. Vader wondered what had made her decided to contact him first; he'd told her to keep following Luke and the others until he contacted her. Plus she was terrified of him. She usually didn't contact him first unless she really had to.  
  
"Luke and the others are on their way to Jabba the Hutt's palace, Master," said Tara.  
  
That wasn't news. Vader had already known that they would be going there to rescue Han Solo, but he wasn't annoyed. Tara probably hadn't been aware that he already knew. He thought for a moment. Now that he knew exactly where Luke and the others were going, it probably wasn't necessary to have Tara trailing them still. Luke would most likely become aware of her, since she was Force-strong.  
  
"Leave Tattooine," Vader instructed Tara. "I will contact you very soon."  
  
"Yes, Master," said Tara.  
  
-----  
  
That evening, inside her ship, Tara sighed. She did not like the way Luke had said that at the café earlier - "Maybe we'll see you around." At least she wasn't on Tattooine now. Luke definately was suspicious of her. This was not good. She'd only been following him and the others for a day or two, and had already screwed up. She couldn't fail.  
  
So far, in her two years of working for Darth Vader, Tara Adrien had never totally failed him. There had been one or two times when she'd come close, but she'd managed to succeed in the end. She never liked to think of what would happen if she did fail him. It chilled her. And this particular assigment - following Luke Skywalker and his friends - somehow seemed to be especially important, though Tara didn't know why.  
  
She could not keep messing it up. She needed to just continue following them and hope that if she did run into them again - as Luke had hinted - then she could figure out something that would calm the suspicion.  
  
Tara shivered and put on her black jacket. Space was cold. She would have gone back to her apartment after checking out of the hotel, but Vader had told her to leave Tattooine, so she'd have to go somewhere else for a few days. She doubted that he knew she lived there.  
  
{ Well, I need to go somewhere until he contacts me again. } she thought.  
  
She decided on Naboo. It was beautiful there, and she hadn't visited the planet since...since a couple of months before Vader had first found her. As she located Naboo's coordinates and began preparing the ship for hyperspace, she thought about that night, two years ago.  
  
-----  
  
It wasn't directly Oola's fault that Tara ended up being discovered by Darth Vader, though it was Oola who brought Tara to the party on Coruscant.  
  
The party was the same day as Tara's fourteenth birthday - it was actually a birthday party for two girls, Aiva and Arika, who had the same birthday as she did. Aiva and Arika were twins, and were both turning sixteen. Tara wasn't directly invited to the party, but Oola was, and half of the party's guests would probably also be friends who had been brought along.  
  
The party, Oola explained, was going to be in a hotel on Coruscant for two or three nights. All of the guests were being given rooms to stay in, free of charge. This sounded great to Tara. One evening, Oola spent the night at Tara's apartment so they could pack their thing and leave the next morning. Tara asked what the catch was, thinking of how the party was being held in such a fancy hotel.  
  
"Do you really wanna know?" Oola asked, smiling.  
  
"Of course," said Tara.  
  
"Well, don't tell anyone. It's going to be hard enough for us to sneak off to Coruscant without your parents finding out."  
  
"Fine. I won't tell anyone," Tara promised. They had already come up with a plan - Trehna and Kitster thought that Oola was going on a school field trip to the Yavin system. All of the kids were allowed to bring a friend along, so Oola had invited Tara. Althought Tara had her own new apartment, her parents still seemed to be trying to watch her as much as possible.  
  
"Well, Aiva and Arika..." Oola began, almost whispering now "...are both really rich - their parents own some really successful chain of resturaunts."  
  
Tara laughed. "That's a big secret or something?"  
  
"No," said Oola, "but Emperor Palpatine is Aiva and Arika's great-uncle."  
  
"What the hell?"  
  
"I'm serious," Oola told her, still speaking softly. "But remember, don't tell anyone. Arika and Aiva don't really want a lot of the people at the party to know yet, 'cause then everyone might freak out and leave or something."  
  
"Know yet? Are they going to make an announcement about it or something?" asked Tara.  
  
"Not really. But once everyone's there, Aiva and Arika's parents might be able to get some Stormtroopers to watch the hotel while the party's going on, and you know, when people see the Stormtroopers outside, they'll wonder what's going on and one of the twins will probably tell everyone."  
  
"Why would the Stormtroopers guard the hotel, though?" Tara asked.  
  
Oola looked at her. "Because, the twins are the Emperor's great-neices."  
  
"Yeah, but does Palpatine even care that much about his own family members?"  
  
"That's what I'm wondering, too," said Oola, shrugging. "But I guess he likes Arika and Aiva. Every evil guy seems to have at least one tiny soft spot or two."  
  
Tara laughed for a moment. "I doubt that Darth Vader does."  
  
Oola shrugged again. "You never know."  
  
Around six o' clock the next day, they arrived at the hotel on Coruscant. Oola and Tara went to their room and changed clothes, then headed down to the spacious ballroom on the hotel's first floor. There were at least two hundred other guests - some of the human, some Twi'leks, a few Zabraks, even some Gungans and Rodians. In the center of the ballroom was fake tree, about eight feet tall, that was made from some kind of shiny, clear glass. It seemed to glisten.  
  
It took a minute or two for Oola to locate Arika and Aiva, but then she spotted them in one corner of the room, and brought Tara to them.  
  
"Hey, Oola," Aiva greeted them.  
  
"Hey. Happy birthday to you both," said Oola. "This is Tara. Her birthday is today, too."  
  
"Oh, really?" said Arika, looking at Tara. "How old are you?"  
  
"Fourteen," answered Tara. "Happy birthday."  
  
"You too," Aiva said. She appeared to notice something on the other side of the room, and said to her sister "Arika, Serrah and her brother came."  
  
"Great!" said Arika. She and Aiva left to go greet them.  
  
Oola laughed for no particular reason, other than to enjoy laughing. She looked at Tara. "Having fun?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Is something wrong, Tara?"  
  
"No," answered Tara. "Why?"  
  
Oola shrugged. "You just look so pale all of a sudden."  
  
"I'm always pale," said Tara, glancing at the ten or twelve couples that had already started dancing.  
  
"True. I find it amazing that you're a Tattooinian and still don't get tan at all," Oola replied. "But really, you look paler than usual. Are you feeling alright?"  
  
"I'm great. Really. I'm having fun," Tara assured her.  
  
"Alright, but if you wanna leave and go back to the room, let me know."  
  
Tara nodded. "Okay."  
  
"It'll be much more fun when Vader gets here," Oola said, only loudly enough for Tara to hear.  
  
"What?!" Tara stared at her.  
  
"I'm kidding!" said Oola, smiling.  
  
Tara laughed and playfully hit Oola, not hard enough to hurt at all. "Don't do that again!"  
  
"I won't. Sorry," Oola said. She laughed, too. "You should have seen the look on your face when I said that, though. You were terrified."  
  
"Of course. He's Darth Vader." Tara hit Oola again, but laughed again as well.   
  
"True," Oola said again. "Enough of that, though. Do you wanna try to find some dancing partners?"  
  
-----  
  
Tara pushed the memories away, for now, as her ship started to come out of hyperspace. Naboo was right ahead. It was such a beautiful, peaceful-looking planet. Hopefully she'd be able to stay here for at least a few days before Darth Vader contacted her.  
  
Last time Tara had come here, it was on a short vacation with Kitster and Trehna. It hadn't been a lot of fun, either. They had stayed in a pretty-but-small house near one of the lakes, out in the country. When Tara asked Kitster if they could go visit some of the cities, like Theed, and the palace area, he'd said no, and added that they had come here to enjoy the peace and quiet.  
  
Now, though, Tara went to Theed. After finding an open landing pad, she decided to look for a hotel, or maybe not. She could just stay in the ship at night, as she often did when she was doing an assignment for Vader. Then she didn't have to pay for a hotel room, either. She'd only done so on Tattooine so that she could remain closer to Luke and the others.  
  
It was so pleasantly warm here. Not like on Tattooine, where it was hot all day and then freezing cold at night. Here, the sun was a more relaxing kind of warm, and Tara remembered, from her and her parent's vacation, that the nights were simply cool, not too cold. And the scenery...Tara decided that whenever she had time, she might move away from Tattooine and get a new apartment here.  
  
In one of the plazas, there were several venders setting up tables and selling their merchandise. Unlike most of the dealers on Tattooine, the ones here didn't seem to particularly care if they made a lot of money or not. Tara purchased a silvery-blue glass bottle that was filled with some kind of flavored water.  
  
Next, she went to another plaza near the palace, one that had several sparkling fountains. In the middle of the plaza was the largest of the fountains, which was a memorial. A garden of flowers circled the fountain, and a large, smooth white stone had the words IN MEMORY OF OUR LADY PADMÉ AMIDALA carved in the middle. Some people who passed by were leaving bouquets of flowers and roses near the stone, despite the garden surrounding the fountain.  
  
Tara shivered. Suddenly, she felt cold. It was strange. Only a few seconds ago, she'd felt the warm sun on her back. She glanced up at the sky, seeing that it was still clear. No sudden clouds or any other sign of a storm coming. Why did she suddenly need her coat?  
  
Without looking at the memorial again, she turned and left the plaza.  
  
-----  
  
After almost half an hour, Tara hadn't found anyone to dance with. Oola, on the other hand, had met another Twi'lek, one that was only a year older than her. He'd been dancing with her for almost twenty minutes now. Oola felt bad, since Tara had no one to dance with, but Tara told her that it was fine.  
  
"Oola, I'm gonna go outside, okay?" she said when Oola's dancing partner momentarily left to greet a Rodian he'd recognized.  
  
"Are you alright?" asked Oola.  
  
"Yeah. I just wanna get some fresh air, that's all. I'll be back in a minute."  
  
"Are you sure you're okay? I feel like I'm leaving you out."  
  
"It's fine," Tara assured her again. "Really. And he likes you a lot, I can tell. Have fun."  
  
Oola gave her a brief hug. "Okay."  
  
Before Tara had even reached the other side of the room, the commotion already started. A couple of blonde-haired human girls, who had just re-entered the ballroom after going to use the bathroom, had noticed about twenty Imperial Stormtroopers gathering outside, in front of the hotel. One of the girls freaked out and told her boyfriend about it. A few other guests overheard her, and others overheard them.  
  
It seemed like only five minutes before everyone started panicking. A few of the guests went back upstairs, to their hotel rooms, but most of them just ran out of the back and front entrances of the hotel, despite the Stormtroopers. Tara looked around for Oola, but couldn't find her or her new boyfriend anywhere, and doubted that she'd gone up to their hotel room.  
  
She did spot Arika and Aiva, who were hopelessly trying to calm everyone down and tell them that there was no need to worry about the Stormtroopers, they were just here to guard the party. It wasn't much help, though. Perhaps they should have let everyone know - before the party - that the Stormtroopers might be there. Then again, if they had done that and mentioned that the Emperor was their great-uncle, probably no one would have come.  
  
As she continued looking around for Oola, Tara was at least ten feet away from the huge glass tree.  
  
A couple of male Zabraks had brought knives with them. Both of them had their knives drawn now; they both seemed to be intent on defending their girlfriends from Stormtroopers. A third Zabrak went past them, and said something in a language that Tara didn't understand. Whatever it was, it pissed off the other two Zabraks.  
  
Tara turned away, momentarily, to scan the room for Oola again. She didn't see which of the Zabraks ended up causing the glass tree to break, but she looked as she heard one or two shattering sounds. She and several of the other guests quickly moved out of the way. Despite her speed, though, Tara was still hurt. One shard of glass, several inches long, made a deep cut that started on her left side and almost went to her back. A few smaller pieces made cuts on her right arm and shoulder.  
  
Tara shrieked. She had to get out of here. Somehow, she'd find Oola later. Oola probably wasn't even in here still. Only about twenty of the original two-hundred-and-something guests were here, in fact. She went out of the back entrance of the hotel, since she had mostly overheard that the Stormtroopers had been outside of the front entrance. By now, they had most likely moved to the back as well, but she didn't care. She had to get away.  
  
To make things more complicated, small crowds had also gathered outside both hotel entrances after hearing all of the chaos. Tara pushed through everyone, trying to get out into the streets. Someone, a middle-aged human man, grabbed her wrist and tried to stop her.  
  
"Ma'am, I'm a doctor. Let me help. You're bleeding, you need..."  
  
Without really thinking about it, Tara slapped him. She just wanted to get away. Distracted, the man let go of her wrist. She continued running off.  
  
When the hotel was several streets away, Tara finally slowed to a walk. Glancing down, she noticed that some of pieces of glass had made a few cuts on her legs as well. She sighed. She needed to look around for some kind of hospital.  
  
She spotted a few humans and Twi'leks - none of whom were Oola or her new boyfriend - that she remembered seeing at the party earlier. She observed them for a second or two, trying to see if they were all headed for any place in particular. But they broke up into pairs or small groups and went seperate ways.  
  
Tara sighed again, sadly, and continued walking through the streets. She received a few stares, because of the blood on her, but no one stopped her again and claimed to be a doctor. She felt bad now for slapping the man who'd tried to help her earlier, but she couldn't turn around and go back to the hotel to look for him.  
  
Time passed, it could have been thirty minutes or an hour. Tara didn't have her wrist chrono with her. When she finally paid attention to her surroundings, though, she realized that she was now in a less busy part of Coruscant. From the looks of the beings and the buildings she passed, this seemed to be one of the wealthier, upper-class areas.  
  
A pair of female Kaminoans, both in expensive outfits, looked at her.  
  
"Are you alright, dear?" one of them asked, seeing the blood on her.  
  
"Yeah," Tara lied.  
  
One of the Kaminoans said something else, she ignored it and continued walking. She wasn't really tired, despite everything she'd just gone through, but she did need to do something about her wounds. She saw an outdoor elevator entrance. Looking up, she saw that several of the buildings here had at least four stories, and a balcony walkway went along all of them. The elevator probably went up to there. Tara took it.  
  
Once on the walkway, she kept going nowhere in particular. She still didn't run into a hospital of any kind. She knew it was ridiculous to keep wandering around, but she wasn't thinking clearly, and she couldn't think of anything better to do. Plus she was going to have find Oola, and that was definately not going to be easy.  
  
-----  
  
Not far away, Darth Vader was standing alone - minus a few of his Stormtroopers - on an isolated area of the walkway, momentarily looking out at the night. He had felt the Force-strong presence a while ago. It was so close now, and it had to be either Luke or Leia. He had instructed other Stormtroopers and a couple of Imperial officers to look around for anyone suspicious, and to bring anyone they found to him.  
  
After a few minutes, one of the officers and a few of the Stormtroopers returned. The officer said "My Lord", but that wasn't really why Vader turned to them. The girl that they brought with them was the presence he'd sensed.  
  
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl didn't appear to be older than sixteen or seventeen. A lot of blood, half of which was dried now, was on her clothes. She was scared, as well, but she was definately who Vader had sensed.  
  
-----  
  
Tara thought she had to be hallucinating, or dreaming. Yes, that had to be it. Walking through the streets, she must have finally found some kind of hospital. The doctors had given her some kind of sedative to make her sleep, and she was having this nightmare now.  
  
-----  
  
Laughter, coming from two young girls who were running around the plaza, brought Tara back to the present.  
  
She glanced back at the fountains in the other plaza, and at the Padmé Amidala memorial, still having no idea why she'd felt so cold when standing in front of it. Although she felt ridiculous, she decided not to go back there, at least not today. 


	5. Chapter Four: Meetings

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Four ==  
  
For the next two days, Tara did not hear from Darth Vader. She remained on Naboo. Although she went to several of the plazas, she still avoided going near the Padmé Amidala memorial, despite how ridiculous she knew she was being. She bought some new clothes and a few other interesting items she'd found at the tables in the plazas. If she tried hard enough, she could pretend that she wasn't an agent waiting to hear from Vader, but just a normal tourist - for about five minutes, at least.  
  
Tara soon found around that she had arrived at a busy - but not dangerous - time on Naboo. A new queen had been elected; the votes had been counted only the day before Tara arrived. In the palace plaza in Theed one afternoon, the new queen, Jamilla, was giving her thank-you speech. Several nearby residents had come to listen to it. Tara didn't go. She remained in her ship for a few hours and took the opportunity to get some sleep.  
  
Later that day, though, she went out to the plazas and stores again. From overhearing conversations, she gathered that Jamilla had been the queen of Naboo once before, some years ago. She'd actually been the next queen after Queen Amidala. Tara wasn't about to ask anyone if they also got chills whenever they went near the memorial.  
  
That evening, as the sun was starting to set, Tara finally heard from Vader. There was a black holograph transmission pad in the back of her ship. The blue image of her master didn't come in as clear as usual. Naboo was probably far from wherever Vader's Star Destroyer currently was.  
  
Vader instructed her to meet him on Coruscant tomorrow. Tara waited until the connection was off, and the blue image had faded away, before letting out a sigh. Although she and Vader had contacted each other several times, it had been a little over a month since the last time she'd actually seen him or talked to him in person. Given the choice, she preferred holograms.  
  
Before she prepared the ship for taking off, though, she wanted to go back to the Padmé Amidala memorial. She wasn't going to leave here without convincing herself that she'd imagined feeling cold near it the other day.  
  
-----  
  
"Thanks, you guys," Han said for what was probably the tenth time in the last five minutes.  
  
"Of course," said Leia. She reached over and kissed his cheek. "Didn't you think we were going to come back for you as soon as possible?"  
  
"Well, yeah," answered Han. "But to be honest, I wasn't really that concious in the carbonite. It was like I hibernated for several months."  
  
"Is your vision better now?" asked Lando.  
  
"Great," Han said, glancing at Leia again. While in his "hibernation" in the carbonite, he had drifted in and out of several dreams, most of which he couldn't remember now. He did recall seeing Leia in them at least a few times, though. Those dreams had been comforting. He'd also had the occassional nightmare where he'd seen Darth Vader.  
  
"So, where are we going now?" Han asked. "Are we splitting up again."  
  
"Yes," said Leia, not hiding her sad tone.  
  
Luke nodded. "Artoo and I are going to Degobah. I have to visit someone. I promised them I'd come."  
  
"Fair enough," said Han. "And the rest of us are taking the Falcon and regrouping with the other Rebels, right?"  
  
"Right," said Lando.  
  
-----  
  
Tara stared silently at the Padmé Amidala memorial for what seemed like a long time. But this time, she didn't feel cold at all. She smiled to herself, glad she'd finally gotten over it. The memorial still creeped her out, though. Maybe because it was for a dead person; though she had never been afraid of graveyards or any places like that. Yet this memorial still chilled her inside, even if she didn't get the cold feeling she thought she'd gotten the other day.  
  
She turned and started to leave, but stopped when she heard a crackling sound. Looking down, she realized she'd stepped on some...snow.  
  
"What the..." she said aloud. She knelt down in front of the memorial, looking under some of the flowers that were planted. Pushing aside a few leaves, she saw that there were small patches of snow hidden underneath the stems and foilage of the plants.  
  
She turned and left quickly. She didn't have time to wonder about this right now - she had to leave for Coruscant in time to meet her master tomorrow.  
  
-----  
  
"Do we have to split up right away?" Leia asked, mostly commenting to herself, as Luke's house on Tattooine came into view, along with the Millenium Falcon that was landed close to it.  
  
Since Luke obviously couldn't stay in his old house anymore - and even if it hadn't been burnt down, he still wouldn't have, because of the deaths of his aunt and uncle - he had lived in Obi-Wan's old home for a little while, but soon changed his mind about that place, too. A few months ago, he'd finally bought his own house. He'd had to use some of his own money combined with money he'd found in Obi-Wan's home, but he figured that Obi-Wan wouldn't care.  
  
"Well..." Luke said to Leia, considering it. He did need to go see Yoda as soon as possible. He'd promised he'd come back. But that had been about a year ago. It couldn't hurt to wait one more day.  
  
He looked at Leia. "We could all leave tomorrow."  
  
"Sounds good to me," said Han. "Lando and Chewie and I can fix some stuff on the Falcon."  
  
"We took good care of your ship, Han," Lando assured him as the speeder started slowing down, then stopped.  
  
"I know," Han replied, somewhat softly. He realized - though he didn't say so to the others - that he hadn't even thought of the ship until now, while the speeder was approaching it and Luke's house. He'd thought much more about Leia, Luke, Lando, Chewbacca, and even Artoo and Threepio. He was definately not the same person he'd been three or four years ago. He had a few true friends now - outside of Chewbacca, whom had always been a true friend. He cared more about them then he did his ship, or money, or gambling.  
  
Luke's house was larger than Obi-Wan's or Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's had been. He, Leia, Lando, Han, the droids, and Chewbacca could all be inside without the feeling of the place being too crowded.  
  
The droids went to the garage. Lando, Chewbacca, and Han stayed outside to work on the Millenium Falcon, leaving Leia and Luke alone in the kitchen. Leia went to another room and changed into a cooler, sleeveless white shirt, then returned to the kitchen and started boiling some water for tea. It was odd how hot tea always tasted good, even when you were on a desert planet.  
  
"You look better," said Luke, unable to think of a more creative yet casual compliment right now. He didn't want to start any more awkward, do-we-like-each-other-or-not moments with Leia. Those would probably start to disappear now, though, since they'd rescued Han.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Leia.  
  
"Since Han's back," answered Luke. "You just look so happy. You've been smiling."  
  
"Oh. Thanks," said Leia, blushing slightly. She remembered she still needed to have a talk with Han, mostly because of her "I love you" and his simple "I know" response on Bespin.  
  
"What happened?" Luke asked.  
  
Leia looked at him. "What?"  
  
"That." Luke lightly touched the underside of her left arm, where there was a small, faint scar, no more than a couple of inches long.  
  
"Oh," said Leia. "I've had that since I was three or four. I think a piece of rock, or a stick or something, cut me somehow."  
  
"When?"  
  
"I don't really remember. I was in a forest somewhere with my mother."  
  
Luke shrugged. "Bail let you and your mother go out into the woods alone?"  
  
"Oh, no," Leia said. "I was with my real mother. Not my adopted one."  
  
"Oh," said Luke. He was quiet for a moment, then asked, out of curiousity, "Do you remember her?"  
  
"My real mother?" Leia asked. "Yes, a little. She died when I was very young."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
Leia shrugged. "Images, feelings. And some things she said to me, though her voice is getting a little faint in my mind now."  
  
Luke nodded, wondering if Leia was trying to mask any sadness in her voice, or if she really didn't feel that sad about it. She did say that she'd been very young when her real mother died.  
  
"Do you mind if I ask what happened to her?"  
  
"Not at all," said Leia, since Luke had once told her his own sad story about his uncle and aunt's deaths, not to mention that she had been there when Obi-Wan was killed in front of him. She thought a moment. "To be honest with you, I really don't know."  
  
"You don't?"  
  
Leia shook her head. "My dad - Bail, I mean - just told me she'd died. He didn't say what happened to her. I never asked him. He would never tell me much about her at all."  
  
"What about your dad?" Luke asked, curious. "Your real dad, I mean."  
  
Leia shrugged again. "He died before I was born." She paused. "Did you ever meet your parents?"  
  
"My mom died while giving birth to me," said Luke. He thought of Darth Vader. He probably shouldn't tell Leia - not yet, at least - that Vader was his father. Anakin Skywalker really was, anyway. He added, only partially lying, "And my dad died before I was born."  
  
"Isn't that wierd? We both never met our dad," said Leia. "Did your aunt and uncle ever tell you about your parents?"  
  
"My uncle told me some stuff about my dad, but not a lot," answered Luke.  
  
{ Like the fact that he became Darth Vader... }  
  
"And no one really mentioned my mom. I didn't ever ask about her. I wish I had. I wish I'd known more about both of them."  
  
Leia put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you will one day."  
  
"How could I learn more about them?" asked Luke.  
  
"I don't know. Somehow, I guess," said Leia, now wishing she hadn't given that answer. She hadn't been able to think of anything better to say, though.  
  
"Thanks," said Luke.  
  
"You're welcome," said Leia. She quickly removed her hand from his shoulder, not wanting to have any confusing moments right now.  
  
-----  
  
Tara arrived on Coruscant early the next day, though she didn't have to meet Darth Vader just yet. The sunset was barely starting when she left to go see her master. She was very nervous, seeing that she was trembling. She hoped that she wasn't going to be trembling too noticeably, though Vader was obviously used to talking to beings that were scared of him.  
  
-----  
  
Every time Darth Vader saw Tara Adrien, in person or by hologram, she was wearing the necklace. It was a silver necklace with a small, silver-outlined heart that was made from some kind of black stone. It always caught his eye for some reason. Perhaps because it reminded him of the tattoo on his chest, which had managed to remain undamaged, on his skin, after his fight with Obi-Wan by the volcano. The tattoo was a black heart surrounded by a couple of dark-petaled, thorny roses and a hissing snake. Despite the creepyness of the whole tattoo, though, PADMÉ was in the center of the heart. Vader hadn't gotten the tattoo until a few days after he'd visited her for two weeks, so she'd never seen it.  
  
Tara always gave Vader a noticeable but brief bow, only lowering her head and part of her shoulders for a moment. He liked that, and silently admitted that he wished he could do the same. It was annoying to always have to kneel to the Emperor, and sometimes stay that way for almost ten minutes or more before Palpatine told him to rise.  
  
"I am pleased to see you, Tara," Vader said. He usually didn't give her such an almost...friendly greeting, but she was his most trusted agent.  
  
Tara gave a small nod, not bothering to respond with a fake "I'm happy to you see you, too" or anything like that. One thing she did like about her master, though, was that he didn't waste any time with bland polite talk. He got right to the point.  
  
"The Rebels are going to a moon called Endor," Vader informed her. "They plan to deactivate the Death Star's shield generator."  
  
"Yes, Master," Tara said softly.  
  
"Go to Endor and watch them, but do not do anything until I contact you," Vader replied.  
  
Tara gave another nod and softly said, "Yes, my master."  
  
Vader left. Tara didn't know why he couldn't have just contacted her by hologram and told her this, but she supposed that he felt it was good to talk to her in person every once and a while, as well. Not that she could forget she was working for Darth Vader or anything.  
  
Tara turned and started heading for her ship. She needed to find out where Endor was. She'd never even heard of it until her master had mentioned it just now. Since she wanted to leave Coruscant as soon as possible, she could probably go back to Naboo and use one of their libraries or information centers to search for Endor's location.  
  
-----  
  
A couple of hours later, on the Star Destroyer, Admiral Piett nervously came to Vader's chambers.  
  
"What is it, Admiral?" Vader asked.  
  
"Queen Jamilla, of Naboo, would like to meet with you, my Lord," Piett answered.  
  
-----  
  
"Excuse me! I'm in charge of security here, my Lady," Anakin said.  
  
"And this is my home," Padmé said, staring back at him. "I know it very well. That is why we're here. I think it would be wise if you took advantage of my knowledge in this situation."  
  
Anakin smiled. "I'm sorry, my Lady."  
  
Padmé said nothing else, but she stared at him for another moment.  
  
"Good," said Queen Jamilla. "It is settled, then."  
  
-----  
  
"When?" Vader asked Admiral Piett.  
  
"At whatever time you wish, my Lord," said Piett. "As soon as is possible."  
  
Vader was silent for a moment or two, then answered, "Tell her that I will meet her on her planet tomorrow."  
  
"As you wish, my Lord," Piett replied. He bowed, then quickly left. 


	6. Chapter Five: Flowers And A Star

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Five ==  
  
Tara reached Naboo just before midnight, and after finding out where Endor was, she wanted to go ahead and leave. But she was more tired than she'd realized, and decided to stay on Naboo until the next morning.  
  
-----  
  
She woke up early, and before leaving, she went to the Padmé Amidala memorial again for no particular reason, not to see if there was still snow there or if she felt cold or anything like that.   
  
Few other beings were out in the plazas this early, except for royal guards and merchants setting up their tables. When Tara entered the main palace plaza and reached the memorial, though, someone else was there. It was a woman who seemed to be taking care of the flowers that were planted around the memorial's fountain.  
  
"Hello," the woman said politely, looking at her with blue eyes. Then she glanced at the sky, which still had some golds and reds left over from the sunrise. "Early, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes," said Tara. She studied the woman's soft yellow robes. She seemed to be trying to avoid getting much dirt on them, though she probably should have dressed in something less nice if she were going to be working with a garden.  
  
"Are you a guard?" asked Tara.  
  
"No, no. I'm one of the queen's handmaidens," the woman said after a brief but pretty laugh. She gently removed a couple of withered, dead leaves from a flower stem. "I take care of a lot of the plants."  
  
"Oh."  
  
The woman glanced at her again. "Why do you ask? Are you lost or something?"  
  
"No," answered Tara. "I was just wondering."  
  
"You have a pretty accent."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
The woman nodded and removed some more dead leaves from a few roses, making sure that the thorns didn't cut her. Then she gently pushed aside some yellow flowers, probably to look for more dead plants. As she did so, Tara saw there was still snow under the flowers.  
  
"Is that snow?" she asked the woman with mild, fake surprise.  
  
The woman nodded again. "Yes. I keep some snow and ice inside some of the palace kitchen's freezers. I put it around the flowers in the morning, so it'll melt and give them enough water to last through the day."  
  
"Oh," said Tara, in a that's-cool tone. That explained the snow she'd seen yesterday. Not the chilling feeling, though. She looked at her chronowatch. "I've got to go."  
  
"Alright. Take care," said the woman. "Nice meeting you."  
  
"You, too," said Tara. She glanced at the memorial again, then left.  
  
-----  
  
Later that day, Queen Jamilla met Darth Vader in a more private, secluded part of the palace, nowhere near any of the entrances to the public plazas. If one rumor about Vader being here started going around, the Naboo residents might start panicking. It was definately best to avoid that.  
  
Jamilla let out one last nervous sigh before Vader appeared. She wasn't lucky enough to have any handmaidens that looked very similar to her, so she didn't have a decoy. Even if she did, though, she knew she couldn't send a decoy to talk to Darth Vader, anyway.  
  
Well, eight of her handmaidens were here, silently standing in two rows, no less then a couple of feet behind her. At least she didn't have to feel completely alone. She glanced at them momentarily, knowing that the four handmaidens in the back row - Eirtaé, Tahné, Star, and Zadré were glad that they were mostly hidden by the four other handmaidens standing in front of them. The four in the front row were probably wishing they were in the back.  
  
"Lord Vader," Queen Jamilla said warmly, giving a small bow of her head.  
  
"Your Highness," said Vader. He didn't give any kind of bow in return.   
  
He wasn't in a hurry to leave here. He could avoid Naboo because it was too involved with his old life as Anakin Skywalker and had too many old memories, but most of those memories dealt with Padmé, which was one reason why he had agreed to come today. He had not been here in years.  
  
Queen Jamilla was quiet for a moment, but didn't let herself look as if she were hesitating. She tried not to, at least. She silently wondered if the Stormtroopers that had come with Vader felt the way that her handmaidens did.  
  
"I was only recently elected again, my Lord," she began, not sure why she'd added the "again". Vader probably didn't know she'd been queen once before. "I was told by our previous queen that the Empire has started watching Naboo more closely during the past month or so."  
  
"It is true," Vader told her. "There is a possibility of at least one Rebel base being on this planet."  
  
"I assure you that there are none," said Queen Jamilla.  
  
"My sources have told me differently, Your Highness."  
  
"I do not want any harm coming to our planet. We are peaceful," Jamilla insisted. "We do not particularly like the Empire, but we are not helping the Rebellion, either. We have tried to remain as neutral as possible throughout these conflicts."  
  
"I am aware that you have," said Vader, "and disturbing this planet's peace would be unfortunate, but if the Rebellion is found to have any presence here, it will have to be dealt with."  
  
"Understandable," Jamilla replied, though she definately was not agreeing to let Imperial troops start coming here. She didn't have much of a choice, though. "I suppose that while you are here, you and your men will be searching for any of the possible bases?"  
  
"Yes. You asked me to come here, Your Highness," Vader reminded her.  
  
"I did. I want to assure you that your men will be allowed to search without any resistance."  
  
"That would be best, for your sake."  
  
"Of course, my Lord," said Jamilla. "I want you to find that nothing is here, so that the Empire will not need to have any more suspicions of Naboo."  
  
"Your cooperation will be appreciated, Your Highness," said Vader.  
  
Jamilla nodded briefly, but didn't bother with a fake polite smile. She was quiet for a second, then said, "If you do not mind, my Lord, I would like to send one of my handmaidens with you, should you be in need of someone who knows this planet well."  
  
Vader would have said no, in case the handmaiden was going to be used to spy, but Jamilla had to know that it would be a dumb idea. Vader sensed the honesty in her suggestion, and although he didn't really want to take it, it would be useful to have someone who knew this place.  
  
"Very well," he answered.  
  
Jamilla gave a brief, polite smile this time. She glanced at her handmaidens. "Star?"  
  
One of the handmaidens, one from the four in the back row, to Queen Jamilla's side. Like the seven others, "Star" was wearing black robes. A black, see-through cloth covered most of her face, except for her eyes and forehead. But that and the blue contacts in her eyes could not fool Vader at all.  
  
"Star," Jamilla instructed softly, "I would like you to accompany Lord Vader and his men."  
  
"Yes, Your Highness," Padmé said softly. 


	7. Chapter Six: Changes In Plans

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
PLEASE read my Author's Notes. I already mentioned that in this story, Vader knows about both of the twins, not just Luke.  
  
== Chapter Six ==  
  
Darth Vader hadn't been completely honest with Queen Jamilla. He and his men were going to search for the possible Rebel base on Naboo, but not yet. After the Rebels on Endor were taken care of, then they would come back. Soon, within a matter of days, Palpatine would be dead, and Vader wouldn't have to worry about hiding Padmé and Leia from him. As far as Vader knew, Palpatine had no idea that Luke had a twin sister.  
  
Vader's chambers on his Star Destroyer were not a place that anyone else on the ship liked going to - except Padmé Skywalker. At the moment, she and Vader were sitting inside the egg-shaped chamber, the one he breathed in. In his silent surprise and excitement of finally finding her again, earlier at the Naboo palace, he'd almost forgotten that she still hadn't seen him without his mask on.  
  
It was the first time in years that Padmé had looked into Vader's blue eyes, other than seeing them when she dreamed about him or whenever she looked at a holograph.  
  
At first, she was quiet, unsure of what to say. She was nowhere near as sickened by his appearance as he probably thought she was. She wondered if he had even looked in a mirror lately. However bad he'd looked after escaping the volcano, a lot of the scars and wounds seemed to have healed some over the years.  
  
Finally, she softly asked, "Can I kiss you?"  
  
"Yes," Vader answered. He still had a little over five more minutes before he would need his mask again.  
  
Padmé reached over and kissed him. The kiss lasted for several moments. It didn't feel any different, to either of them, than the last time they'd kissed. And for the first time in a while, Vader felt almost...happy, peaceful, was it? It had been so long that he almost didn't recognize the feelings.  
  
Everything was almost right. Soon, Luke and Leia would join him, the Emperor would be out of the way, Luke could help to train Tara, and Padmé was here, with him again. Of course, she had always been with him spiritually, but now he knew for a fact that the Emperor had lied about her death.  
  
They kissed two or three more times, then Vader let the machine put his mask on again, even though he still had almost three more minutes of free breathing time.  
  
Padmé was quiet for a moment, then asked, "Have you found Luke and Leia?"  
  
"They are on Endor," answered Vader. "A group of Rebels are planning to deactivate the Death Star's shield generator."  
  
Padmé nodded, then said, "If you know where the twins are, aren't you going to go get them?"  
  
"Soon."  
  
Padmé nodded again. "I hope they don't leave Endor, though."  
  
"One of my agents is following them," said Vader.  
  
"An agent?" Padmé asked, but not in an annoyed tone. Vader usually didn't have so much confidence in agents, though.  
  
"My most trusted one," Vader assured her. "She will not lose Luke and Leia, and even if she does, nothing will keep you and I from finding them again."  
  
Padmé gave him a small smile, feeling comforted. Vader touched one of her hands, then held it. Padmé noticed that she was holding his prosthetic hand, but it had never bothered her, and it didn't now. Behind his mask, Vader smiled at her. He realized that smiling didn't hurt nearly as much as it used to. In the first several months after being rescued from the volcano, it had been painful to smile - not that he'd wanted to. But one time, when thinking of Padmé, he smiled to himself. With all of the scar tissue on his face, it had hurt.  
  
"She? Your agent is a woman?" Padmé asked, her soft voice interrupting Vader's thoughts. She wasn't jealous or suspicious or anything; it was just that she wouldn't expect many female agents to be working for Darth Vader or the Emperor.  
  
"A girl," said Vader.  
  
"Oh," said Padmé, guessing that the girl was probably a teenager. Speaking of teenage girls, she remembered that she still hadn't told Vader about a certain one. She briefly thought of their younger daughter, then pushed the thought out of her head, in case Vader might be reading her mind. She would tell him about her later, after the Emperor was dealt with.  
  
-----  
  
"Don't shoot!" Luke ordered the two Rebel fighters. As he came closer to them, he added, "She's a friend."  
  
Both of the fighters nodded, then went back to patrolling the surrounding area. Luke greeted Tara with a smile.  
  
"How did you end up on Endor?" he asked her.  
  
{ Great. Now I have to lie and Luke's going to sense it. } Tara thought. She couldn't think of any way to get around it right now.  
  
"I was headed for Coruscant," she answered. "But I think I was given bad directions. I got lost."  
  
"Definately. Coruscant's nowhere near here," Luke said. He kept his tone friendly, despite sensing that she'd just lied. Why was she lying? She didn't look like she had anything serious to hide, nor did she seem very dangerous. Maybe she was a runaway. She was Force-strong, though, but didn't appear to have any idea.  
  
"Where'd you land your ship?" he asked her.  
  
"A little far away from here," answered Tara. That wasn't a lie.  
  
"Why'd you walk so far away from it?"  
  
"Looking for help. And it needs some repairs. Something's wrong with the hyperdrive."  
  
Luke nodded. Although he sensed more of her lying, he offered, "Come back to the Rebel base with me. After we're done...um...dealing with the Imperials, we'll help you. You can stay here until then."  
  
He hated suggesting that, since it would be dangerous with all of the fighting, but he couldn't think of a better way to help her. Leia probably would have invited her to come if she had been here.   
  
Leia - his sister. Luke knew that now. And he didn't plan to come back from meeting with Vader and the Emperor. He had just found out that he had a sister, and he'd barely have any time with her. It wasn't fair. If Anakin, his father, had just not turned, not of this would have happened.  
  
A thought, suddenly coming out of his subconcious, came into his mind.  
  
{ How do I know it's my father's own fault that he left? All I've heard is what Obi-Wan and Yoda say about it. }  
  
No. He believed both of them...  
  
{ Obi-Wan didn't really tell me about Anakin becoming Darth Vader. He said that what he told me was true from a certain point of view. }  
  
Obi-Wan wouldn't hide anything else from him, would he, now that Luke knew who Vader was?  
  
{ What about someone else's point of view? }  
  
Luke had never considered that before. After all, he - not Obi-Wan and Yoda - believed that there was still good in Darth Vader. He knew he could turn him back. He had to try. He had already searched his mind, trying to think of what would be so important that it could make Anakin return.  
  
{ Mom? }  
  
But that would be hard...he had no memories of his mother. He didn't even know her name. Perhaps Leia did, though. He could talk to her about it, before he left, when he told her everything about who she really was. She probably didn't have much better memories of their mother than he did, but anything would help.  
  
"Are you alright?" Tara asked politely, breaking into Luke's thoughts. She was not really acting this time; she did have some genuine concern, though she wasn't sure why.  
  
"Yes," Luke lied.  
  
Tara nodded quietly. She seemed to know that he wasn't alright, but wasn't going to bother him about it.  
  
"Don't be afraid," said Luke, to himself and Tara. "This shouldn't be hard. The battle won't be that long."  
  
"I'm not afraid," said Tara, lying again. This time, though, Luke couldn't blame her for it.  
  
-----  
  
The next day, things were confusing for the Imperials. It seemed that the Rebels had suddenly decided to leave Endor, delaying any attack they'd wanted to make. They'd left so during the night, without much trouble. It was only a small group of Rebels, so it wasn't as if defeating them had been some important task. But the move was unusual, and the Imperials remained extra careful.  
  
Meanwhile, the Emperor himself left the Death Star to return to his property on Coruscant. His short stay seemed to have been sufficient enough to remind everyone that the Death Star had better be completed on schedule.  
  
Darth Vader and Padmé remained on Vader's Star Destroyer. Although they didn't know where the twins were now, Padmé was not as worried as she thought she would be. She did hope, though, that Vader's agent wouldn't lose Leia and Luke. 


	8. Chapter Seven: Questions

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Seven ==  
  
Tara hadn't really wanted to be stuck with the Rebels for longer than needed, but since they had suddenly decided to leave Endor, she had to go with them to keep track of Luke and the others, of course. And Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewbacca, and the man she'd recently been introduced to - Han - were all nice enough. Other than Luke, none of them seemed to have any suspicion of Tara at all. She wondered if he might have told them that she was lying about some things, but doubted it, since she was given no weird or questioning looks.  
  
Han and Lando had kindly offered to look at Tara's ship and see if they could fix whatever was wrong with the hyperdrive. Of course, since Tara had lied to Luke about it not working, nothing was really wrong with it. She couldn't just say it had started working again, though; that would seem strange. When she'd had a free chance, she'd gone to her ship and removed a part from the good hyperdrive, then found a spare, bad part and put it in the other one's place.  
  
Han fixed it in less than five minutes. He'd taken out the bad part Tara had put in, and put in a brand-new one that worked perfectly. Tara thanked him, though inside, she'd felt a little bad, knowing she already had a good part and he'd given her one because he thought she'd needed it.  
  
At the moment, they were inside one of the rooms in a Rebel base in the Yavin system. After the Rebels had destroyed the first Death Star, the Empire had known they wouldn't be stupid enough to go back to the same system and make another base there. They had been partially right. Since it had been three or four years and the Empire wasn't going to be looking for them there anymore, the Rebels had gone back to the system. The only small change was that they were on Yavin Three this time, not Eight.  
  
Lando was telling everyone how Han had "obtained" the Millenium Falcon from him in a game of sabaac - apparently, Lando still didn't like to say that he'd "lost" it to Han. Tara listened to the story and laughed whenever everyone else did, though she didn't really think it was funny. Lando and Han talked about the ship as if it were a pet or a girl they were fighting over.  
  
"...but I never thought of deliberately flying her into an asteroid field," Lando said.  
  
"The Imperials didn't find us, did they?" Han asked. "And she hardly got a scratch."  
  
Hearing Han say this, Leia smiled and nodded, not mentioning that the ship had bumped a few asteroids, and that they'd actually flown into an animal that they thought was a cave.  
  
As she watched them, Tara felt a brief pang of sadness, which she tried to push away. Seeing them, this small, close group of friends reminded her of Oola. She had not seen or heard from her since the night of that party. That was one of the things that Tara planned to do if she was ever free from working for Darth Vader - find Oola.  
  
More laughter, not very loud, came from Leia, Luke, and Han. Lando had just said something else amusing; Tara hadn't been paying attention. She didn't bother to make a fake laugh. But as she looked up, she noticed that Luke, who was sitting only a few feet away from her, was looking at her. He turned away as soon as Tara noticed. She wondered how long he'd been staring at her. Hopefully, if he was going to question her at all about why she'd been lying about some things, he wouldn't do it right now while Leia and the others were here. Tara didn't feel like being interrogated by the whole group.  
  
She wondered what Luke could have done to make Darth Vader want to find him. He was a Rebel, yes, but there were many other Rebels, too. Vader seemed especially interested in Luke and his friends, and from what Tara could tell, he didn't want them dead. If he did, he probably would have killed them already, since he usually knew where they were - he'd had Tara following them for a little while now.  
  
Tara went back to listening to the conversation, and laughing softly or smiling whenever necessary. Once more, she caught Luke looking at her, but again, he turned away as soon as she noticed.  
  
"I'm going to go make some tea. Does anyone else want any?" Leia asked.  
  
Han and Lando both said no thanks.  
  
"I do," said Luke.  
  
"Okay," said Leia. She looked at Tara. "What about you, Tara?"  
  
"No, but I'll help you with it, if you want," Tara offered politely.  
  
"Alright. Thanks."  
  
"No problem," said Tara, smiling.  
  
She and Leia started to leave the room, but Luke stopped them.  
  
"Tara and I will get it, Leia," he said. "Stay here."  
  
"Okay," said Leia. She didn't seem to mind. Han silently guessed that she thought Luke had a crush on Tara and wanted a chance to be alone with her or something.  
  
One of the base's kitchens was right at the end of the hall. A human man and woman, both red-haired, were leaving the kitchen as Tara and Luke entered. No one else was in there.  
  
{ Shit. I'm alone with Luke. } Tara thought, starting to feel nervous.  
  
"Have you ever been out here before?" Luke asked casually, starting to boil some water on one of the stoves.  
  
"To where?" asked Tara.  
  
"Here. The Yavin system." Luke looked at her briefly, but wasn't really studying her suspiciously. Not right now, at least.  
  
"Once, when I was little," answered Tara. That wasn't a lie. "My parents and I went to Yavin Seven, I think. It was pretty."  
  
"It's peaceful out here," Luke agreed. "The Empire finally left it alone, since they think we wouldn't come back here."  
  
Tara nodded. She glanced at the stove. The heat wasn't turned on very high. It was going to take at least five more minutes for the water to start boiling. She tried to think of some topic she could bring up, something to distract Luke away from questioning her, but didn't know what.  
  
Surprisingly, Luke continued the polite conversation, at first.  
  
"Do they know where you are now?" he asked.  
  
"My parents?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Yes," answered Tara.  
  
Luke looked at her. "No, they don't, do they?"  
  
Tara said nothing.  
  
"Tara," Luke said in a softer voice, "I know you're lying to me about some things, and I don't know why. You don't seem to be dangerous, though, so I'm going to let you stay with me and Leia and the others..."  
  
Tara was still quiet.  
  
"...and for now, I won't ask you about why you're lying to me," Luke added, "but when I do, be honest with me. I'm not going to hurt you."  
  
Tara nodded. Luke seemed to be thinking - Tara wouldn't assume it - that she was a sad runaway, or had escaped from being captured by someone, something like that. She softly said, "Thank you."  
  
"Of course," said Luke.  
  
Now, Tara needed to think of what she was going to do when Luke interrogated her, or try to come up with a way to leave before he had a chance to. She could leave, as she thought about it - her master had told her to continue following Luke and the others. Vader didn't know that Tara was actually talking to Luke and the others, acting like a helpless stranger they'd picked up. She could just leave, then continue following them without them being aware of it.  
  
-----  
  
A week ago, Darth Vader would have thought that by now, the Emperor would be dead, and Leia and Luke would have joined him. But no one had planned on the Rebels suddenly leaving Endor for the time being, and Vader had definately not planned on visiting Queen Jamilla and finding Padmé.  
  
So, Vader was not standing over the Emperor's dead body right now, or sitting in the throne, but he couldn't complain about where he was instead, or rather, what he was doing instead. He and Padmé had gone to Naboo. Since Vader had told Jamilla that he and his men would be searching the planet for the suspected base, he might as well get it over with.  
  
On the way to Naboo, Padmé hadn't given Vader any tearful or sad looks. She seemed to understand that in this case, Vader had no desire to deliberately bring harm or chaos to the planet, especially if it was Naboo. It was obviously a dear world to Padmé and to Vader, too, even though Padmé doubted that he'd say so. This planet was part of their history together.  
  
Right now, they were not actually on Naboo. Vader's Star Destroyer was resting in space, close to the planet. Only a few officers and Stormtroopers had gone down to search on the planet, so it would probably be at least a few days before they left, if they found nothing to report. Vader didn't mind the wait. He hadn't wanted thousands of troops to go at once, knowing what panic that would cause.  
  
Vader and Padmé were inside a small, mostly restricted hallway on the Star Destroyer. It wasn't particularly part of Vader's chambers, but no one else ever came here, probably because it was so close to Vader's actual chambers. The hall had four large, thick glass windows on one side, which gave a beautiful view of Naboo right now. The good thing about the windows' glass was that it was sort of one-sided - those inside the hall could see out of it, but anyone on the other side of the glass, outside the ship, could not see inside.  
  
"It's so beautiful," Padmé said softly, to herself and Vader, as she looked at Naboo. She glanced at Vader. "Did you ever come here again, after the last time you visited me?"  
  
"I wanted to," answered Vader, "so that I could find you, but I did not have a chance."  
  
Padmé nodded with understanding. "You wouldn't have found me here, anyway. I left about a month after you did. I didn't return until recently, about six months ago."  
  
She remembered that day, when she'd left Naboo for a while. She'd gone to stay on Alderaan for a few weeks, and it was there that she'd gone to a doctor and found out...no, she couldn't think about that right now, Vader might catch it in her mind. She looked at him again and he slid one of his arms around her waist, using his other hand to gently touch her cheek for a moment.  
  
Padmé gave him a small smile. For a second, she thought she had enough courage to go ahead and tell him about Tara now, but it faded quickly. Again, she decided to wait. As soon as the twins joined them and the Emperor was taken care of, then she'd tell him, and they could go find her. 


	9. Chapter Eight: Finally

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Eight ==  
  
Darth Vader contacted Tara that day, mainly to find out where Luke and the other Rebels currently were. He also instructed her to leave them now, though didn't exactly say why.   
  
Meanwhile, Tara's main problem was coming up with an excuse for leaving Leia, Lando, Luke, Han, and the others. She finally told them - when Luke wasn't currently in the room - that she'd just gotten a comlink message from home and needed to leave. They at least pretended to believe her, and she left before Luke came back, so she had no trouble with him trying to stop her and interrogate her at the last minute.  
  
Tara definately thought, though, that Vader would send her to follow Luke and his friends again soon. Next time, she'd have to figure out how to face him.  
  
-----  
  
Vader and Padmé were inside his chambers on the Star Destroyer. He'd wanted a few minutes to breathe without his mask, and to kiss Padmé.  
  
He touched a few strands of her hair with one of his gloved hands, wishing he could really feel the softness of it. She looked at him and gave him a small smile, then reached over and kissed his cheek before he allowed the machines to put his mask on again.  
  
"Did they find anything?" Padmé asked. "On Naboo, I mean."  
  
"No," answered Vader. "I doubt that there is a single Rebel base anywhere on the planet."  
  
"That's not what you told Queen Jamilla."  
  
"I was looking for an excuse to be here for a few days, so that I would I have time to search for you."  
  
"Thank you," Padmé said softly. She smiled at him again and was quiet for a moment. "Where did your...agent say that Luke and Leia are?"  
  
"On one of the Yavin planets," answered Vader. "We will see them soon. Do not worry."  
  
"I just hope they're alright, that's all," Padmé told him.  
  
"They will be. Trust Luke. He will not let any harm come to himself and Leia," Vader assured her. "And if we lose them again, my agent will find them."  
  
Padmé nodded. Too bad Luke wasn't here to hear him say that. Then maybe he'd almost forgive Vader for cutting off his hand. According to what Vader had told Padmé, though, he hadn't really meant to do that.  
  
"What did you say your agent's name was?" asked Padmé, though she couldn't remember Vader telling her the first time.  
  
"Tara," answered Vader.  
  
Padmé looked at him. "What?!"  
  
"Tara," Vader calmly repeated. "Is something wrong, my love?"  
  
Padmé shook her head, but Vader still sensed the dishonesty in the response. He didn't pressure her to tell her the truth, though, seeing how her face had suddenly become a little paler. He just placed one of his hands on her shoulder and said nothing, waiting for her to speak when she was ready.  
  
"Vader," she finally said, almost whispering, "I have to tell you something."  
  
{ So what if his agent's name is Tara? It might not be our Tara. } she thought.  
  
{ But then again, I might as well tell him now. } 


	10. Chapter Nine: Suspicions

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Nine ==  
  
Padmé closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands for a second or two, as if she were silently telling herself to calm down. It didn't seem to be working. This wasn't at all strange to Darth Vader. Padmé had always acted nervous whenever she had to tell him something very important, even back when he was still Anakin Skywalker. She'd had much less fear of Anakin, though, so it had been easier for her to tell him things.  
  
One of Vader's hands was still resting on Padmé's shoulder. He didn't remove it.  
  
"Vader," Padmé finally said, "do you remember the last time you came and visited me on Naboo? Those couple of weeks?"  
  
"I could not forget," Vader answered honestly.  
  
Padmé looked directly at him for a moment, with a small smile at first, but the smile quickly faded and she avoided his eyes again.  
  
"A few days after you left, I found out I was pregnant again."  
  
Vader didn't appear or sound surprised at all. He calmly said, "I knew."  
  
"You did?" Padmé looked at him again. "Oh, you sensed it, didn't you?"  
  
"Yes." Vader remembered when he - Anakin - had sensed Padmé's first pregnancy; he'd informed her, as well, that she was having twins. But he hadn't even told her that he sensed the pregnancy, not at first. He had waited for her to come and tell him on her own, since he wanted her to learn not to be nervous about telling him anything.  
  
Padmé was quiet for a few moments, then continued, "I kept the baby until she was almost a year old. Then I knew I couldn't keep her any longer, since I couldn't even have Leia and Luke with me."  
  
"It was a girl?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Who did you give her to?"  
  
"An old friend of yours," answered Padmé. "Kitster. He was the only person I could think of. I went to Tattooine and found him."  
  
"Was he still a slave?" Vader asked.  
  
"No, he was free, and he had just gotten married. He and Trehna - his wife - were happy to take the baby. They even started using a false last name, to hide themselves and the baby a little more easily," Padmé explained.  
  
She was quiet for another moment or two, then took a deep breath. She was almost done. She had told the major parts of the story, and Vader didn't seem to be angry at all.  
  
"Vader, I named the baby Tara," she said, pausing for a second. "Is your agent sixteen? And blonde, with blue eyes?"  
  
"Yes, she is," Vader answered. "She's Force-strong, as much as Leia and Luke are."  
  
Padmé nodded. "She has to be our Tara, then. Kitster and Trehna started using 'Adrien' for their last name. Is that your agent's?"  
  
"Yes," said Vader, noticing that Padmé's face wasn't as pale as it had been earlier, now that she'd finished telling him everything and saw that he wasn't angry with her. He removed his hand from her shoulder and lightly touched her cheek. She slowly stopped trembling.  
  
-----  
  
"She just left earlier?" Luke asked.  
  
"Yeah," said Leia. "She said she had to go. One of her family members or friends called her about something, and she couldn't stay."  
  
Luke was not surprised that Tara had left while he wasn't in the room. She knew that he sensed her lies, and had wanted to leave as quickly as possible, when he wasn't around, so that he couldn't stop her and question her.  
  
"Does something seem off about her?" Leia asked, apparently having the same suspicions that Luke was.  
  
"Yeah," answered Luke.  
  
"But she doesn't seem that dangerous, though," Leia added. "She can't be older than seventeen or eighteen."  
  
"I destroyed a Death Star when I was eighteen," Luke said.  
  
"Well, yeah, but Tara didn't look like she was planning to launch a surprise attack on the Rebel base here, or anything like that," Leia replied.  
  
Luke shrugged. "Before Lando turned you and Han and Chewbacca over to Darth Vader, at Bespin, did he look like he was going to deceive you?"  
  
"No - well, I was always suspicious of him, but I see your point. Do you think that Tara's a spy or something?" asked Leia.  
  
"I don't know," said Luke. "We have enough to deal with already. Tara's already left, anyway, so let's not not worry about her unless we run into her again."  
  
Leia nodded. Luke wanted to go ahead and tell her who she really was - his sister and Darth Vader's daughter - but this was definately not the time. He himself had just said that they already had enough to deal with right now. He studied Leia for a moment, though. She didn't have his blonde hair or blue eyes. He wondered which of them looked more like their father, and which looked more like their mother. He thought about asking Leia what her real mother had looked like, but changed his mind, knowing she would probably think it was weird that he was so interested in knowing.  
  
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at him.  
  
"Yeah," Luke lied. "I'm fine." 


	11. Chapter Ten: Visitor

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Ten ==  
  
One night at the Rebel base - three days after Tara had suddenly left - Luke was in his room, unable to sleep. This had definately not been an uncommon problem for him lately. He kept thinking about Leia, Han, Lando, Chewbacca, the other Rebels, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, his mother that he'd never really known, both Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader, and now, Tara. Surprisingly, Tara was the main problem on his mind tonight.  
  
Luke continued wondering who she was. Despite how Force-strong she was, she hadn't said anything to hint that she knew much about the Force. Luke hadn't seen a lightsaber on her, either, and she couldn't have hidden one very well. She hadn't been wearing a heavy coat or anything.  
  
He decided that in the morning, he would leave and go find her. He knew that he shouldn't be delaying his next meeting with his father, but it shouldn't take that long to find Tara.  
  
-----  
  
Tara had returned to her apartment on Tattooine. It felt good to be back there, even if the place wasn't as beautiful and lively as Naboo. Vader would probably contact soon, anyway, and she'd most likely need to follow Luke and the others again. This time, she would follow them without them knowing she was there. It would be easier and she wouldn't have to worry about Luke constantly keeping an eye on her.  
  
The next morning, after taking a shower and getting dressed, Tara was surprised to hear a knock on the front door of her apartment. It couldn't be Jizela, the female Toydarian that owned the small apartment building. Tara always gave her the rent a few days early, and had just paid it yesterday.  
  
When she opened the door, she saw a human woman that didn't look older than thirty-five. After studying her for a moment, Tara realized that it was the same woman she'd met on Naboo; the one that had been taking care of the flowers around the Padmé Amidala memorial. Now, she was not dressed like a handmaiden, but more...casually. She was wearing black boots, a knee-length black skirt, and a sleeveless black shirt. All the black made Tara think of Darth Vader.  
  
"Hi," she said politely, pretending that she hadn't recognized the woman. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Sorry to be rude," the woman answered, "but my comlink isn't working and I really need to call someone. I was wondering if you had one I could use?"  
  
"Sure. Come in," said Tara, letting her inside.  
  
"Thank you so much," the woman said.  
  
"Of course. Would like some water?"  
  
"Yes, thank you."  
  
The two of them went to the apartment's small kitchen. Tara poured two glasses of water, giving one to the woman. It wasn't a fancy drink, but once you visited Tattooine, you gained much more appreciation for a glass of ice-cold water. It was expensive here, more so than most of the alcoholic beverages in the cantinas and taverns.  
  
"Are you lost or something?" Tara asked.  
  
"Yes," the woman answered. "I'm supposed to be meeting my husband somewhere."  
  
Tara nodded.  
  
After a quiet moment, the woman finally stared at her and said "Hey! I met you on Naboo, didn't I?"  
  
Tara hesitated, pretending to think about it, then said, "Oh, yeah. You were taking care of the flowers by the memorial, weren't you?"  
  
The woman nodded, then extended her hand. "My name is Star."  
  
"I'm Tara," Tara replied, shaking her hand. "Oh, you need to use my comlink, don't you? Here. I'll be right back."  
  
"Thanks," said Star, taking the comlink from her.  
  
Tara left the room, pretending to have to go the bathroom. The bathroom's door wasn't soundproof or anything, and while standing inside, she could still hear almost everything Star was saying to whoever she had called - probably her husband. Not that Tara was very suspicious of Star or anything, but there was nothing wrong with her eavesdropping in her own apartment.  
  
"She's fine," Star was saying. There was a pause, then she asked, "How am I going to do that?" Another pause. "Alright, I'll think of something. See you later. I love you."  
  
Tara returned to the kitchen as Star turned off the comlink.  
  
"Thanks again," Star said, giving it back to her.  
  
"You're welcome. Is everything alright?" Tara asked.  
  
Star shrugged. "Yeah, if I can figure out how to get to Mos Espa. Is that near here?"  
  
"No, it's pretty far away," Tara said. "Do you need to get there today?"  
  
"Yes," answered Star. "I need to go there, then take one of the transports to Naboo."  
  
"I have a ship. I could take you to Naboo," Tara offered. "It'll save you a lot of time, and I'm going there anyway."  
  
"Oh, thank you!" Star said, sounding relieved. "You really don't mind?"  
  
"Of course not," said Tara, smiling politely. She hadn't really needed to go to Naboo, but she didn't mind, and in case Luke decided to come to Tattooine again, she didn't want to be here right now. 


	12. Chapter Eleven: Your Real Name

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Eleven ==  
  
Only ten minutes after they'd left Tattooine, Tara already noticed something odd about Star. After sitting down in the seat next to Tara's, in the cockpit, Star momentarily lifted one of her heels to the edge of her seat, so that she could retie the laces on the black boot. As she did so, Tara noticed the small tattoo on one of the fingers of her right hand. It was drawn to look like a silver ring, and had a small, black heart. In the center of the heart were initials, DV, in small red letters.  
  
{ Darth Vader. } Tara thought at first.  
  
{ Stop. My Master cannot be the only being in the galaxy who has the initials DV. } she told herself.  
  
"Do you come to Naboo often?" Star was asking.  
  
"Before I saw you last time, I hadn't been there in a couple of years," answered Tara. "It's beautiful. I want to move there."  
  
"You should," Star replied, nodding. "There's some new apartments near the Lake Country."  
  
"I'll have to look at those."  
  
-----  
  
Luke was very glad that he'd put a small tracking device on Tara's ship before she'd left the Rebel base the other day. It made it much easier to find her and follow her in his X-Wing. He wasn't usually so paranoid - he didn't carry around a pocket full of tracking devices - but he'd happened to have a couple, and since he'd thought that Tara might possibly leave all of sudden, like she'd done, he'd asked Han to put the tracking device on her ship while he and Lando were fixing it for her. Han had agreed and said nothing else. He seemed to be curious about Tara, too.  
  
-----  
  
Padmé was glad to have a chance to spend some peaceful time with one of her children - even if Tara thought she was "Star" - but she already missed Vader. She wanted to feel one of his gloved hands touching her face.  
  
Less than five minutes after leaving the Naboo palace with Vader, after his meeting with Queen Jamillia, Padmé had already gotten used to his respirator. It hadn't bothered her at all. Now, when she didn't hear it in the background, everything seemed too quiet.  
  
Padmé came back to the present, realizing Tara had just said something.  
  
"What? Sorry, I didn't hear you," she said.  
  
"Are you okay?" Tara asked again.  
  
"Oh, yes, I'm fine," Padmé lied. "I can't wait to get back to Naboo."  
  
"Neither can I, I guess."  
  
"So you really are going to try to move there?"  
  
Tara nodded. "As soon as I have a chance to. Where on Naboo do you want me to take you? Back to the palace?"  
  
"Yes," answered Padmé.  
  
"Is that where you're meeting your husband?"  
  
"No. I just need to go to a place near there, and then take a transport to somewhere else."  
  
Tara nodded again. "Why don't I just take you to wherever you need to be?"  
  
"No, thank you. I need to stop somewhere else first, before I meet my husband," Padmé explained again. She paused. "Would you come with me?"  
  
Tara thought this was a little strange. "Why? Don't you have to meet your husband?"  
  
"Yes. I want you to come with me."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's kind of hard to explain right now," said Padmé, "but I just need your help with something." She paused. "Look, I'm not a robber or anything. I'm not trying to hurt you."  
  
"I know you're not," Tara said. She hesitated, then finally answered, "Alright, I'll come with you."  
  
Padmé smiled. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."  
  
-----  
  
The place that Star wanted to go to was a house. It was in a neighborhood not far from the palace, as she'd explained. Star told Tara that she could land her ship on what appeared to be the only landing pad on the house's property. She probably knew the owners of the house well, or maybe this was actually her house.  
  
Both of them didn't go enter the house just yet. Star told Tara that she had to go inside and "get something."  
  
Although Padmé knew that neither of her parents were home right now, she hadn't wanted Tara to see her old bedroom. She had several holographs of her and Anakin in there; one or two of which had "Anakin and Padmé Skywalker" engravings underneath. She didn't want Tara to see them and noticed that she and Anakin had the same last name as Luke.  
  
She looked underneath her bed and pulled out four small boxes; three brown ones and a pale yellow one. Carefully, she picked them up and went back outside to Tara.  
  
"Thanks for waiting," Padmé said.  
  
"You're welcome. What did you need my help with?" Tara asked politely.  
  
"Just these boxes," answered Padmé. "I didn't know if I'd be able to carry them all."  
  
Tara took two of them from her. "How are we going to get to your husband? Do you have a speeder or something?"  
  
Padmé nodded. "On the other side of the house. We don't need to take your ship. It'll only take an hour or so to reach the place where I'm meeting my husband."  
  
Tara nodded. It didn't seem as if Star's husband was expecting her to be at their meeting spot within the next few minutes. Just to be sure, though, she asked, "We won't be late, will we?"  
  
"No," answered Star, not sounding worried. "I told him I'd be there before sunset."  
  
They put the four boxes in the back seat of the speeder, then got inside.  
  
-----  
  
After they had been riding for a few minutes, Padmé asked Tara, "Could you open one of the boxes for me?"  
  
"Which one?"   
  
"The yellow one."  
  
Tara turned and reached for the yellow box, and set it on the front seat of the speeder, between her and Star. After hesitating for a moment, she opened it. Inside were four or five small holographs. Each of them showed a baby that didn't appear to be more than a few months old in any of the pictures. In only one of the pictures did the baby have its blue eyes open.  
  
"Aaaw," Tara said softly, mostly faking it. "Who's this?"  
  
"My youngest daughter," answered Padmé. "I took all of those pictures before she was...four or five months old, I think."  
  
"How old is she now?"  
  
"Sixteen."  
  
Tara nodded. "How many children do you and your husband have?"  
  
"Three," said Padmé. "Our other daughter and son are both twenty-two."  
  
"Are they twins?" asked Tara.  
  
"Yes." Padmé had the strongest urge to suddenly tell Tara that one of those three children was her, that she was the baby in those pictures. But she managed to make herself stay quiet.  
  
-----  
  
After another half-an-hour or so, the speeder suddenly began to slow down. It stalled for a few seconds before finally stopping.  
  
"Shit," said Padmé, mostly to herself. "Dad said his friend fixed the engines..."  
  
"This is your parents' speeder?" asked Tara.  
  
Padmé didn't really answer. She got out of the speeder, and so did Tara. Neither of them knew how to fix it - Tara was familiar with the wirings and parts and works of her own ship, but wasn't really sure what to do with this speeder. She glanced around. They were on a wide dirt path that was in the middle of nowhere; no cities or towns were visible in the distance. To their left was the beginning of a forest, and the direction they'd been riding in was mostly meadows and fields.  
  
After a couple of silent minutes, Tara was about to ask Star what they were going to do - not that Star probably would have known anymore than she would - but it proved to be unnecessary. Another speeder, a shiny black one, approached them. It slowed and stopped when it came close.  
  
Tara froze. Luke was in the speeder. She was suddenly nervous - definately not the same kind of fearful nervousness that she had around Darth Vader, but she was still a little nervous.  
  
"Having trouble?" he asked, as if he didn't recognize Tara at first. Then he finally paused and said, "Tara! Hey."  
  
Padmé looked at them both. "You two know each other?" Then she realized that Tara had probably associated with Luke, Leia, and the others while tracking them; though they obviously didn't know that she was Vader's agent.  
  
Luke looked at Padmé. "You know me?"  
  
"Luke, this is my friend, Star," Tara said. Well, Star wasn't exactly a friend of hers, but Luke already had sensed that she'd been lying about other things, anyway.  
  
"Do you need a ride to somewhere?" Luke offered. He paused. "It's kind of...dangerous out here."  
  
Padmé suddenly realized that he was sensing Vader's presence, and Vader must be sensing him, too. They were less than an hour away from the place where she was going to meet him, and if she told Luke that she and Tara needed to go to the place where he was sensing Vader from, he would definately think that was strange.  
  
{ I might as well get some of this over with now. Vader will understand. } Padmé thought.  
  
"Dangerous?" she asked softly, looking at Luke.  
  
"Yeah..." Luke said, looking back at her.  
  
Padmé nodded. She was silent for a moment, then asked "Can I have a hug?"  
  
"What?" Luke asked, still looking at her.  
  
"Can I have a hug?" Padmé repeated.  
  
"Star, are you..." Tara started to say softly, then just let her voice trail off.  
  
"Please? Don't ask why," said Padmé.  
  
Luke stared at her, but could sense no real danger or deception coming from her odd request. He hugged her, and as he did so, he suddenly felt a strange, comforting presence coming from her, sort of like the one he felt whenever he was around Leia.  
  
Her son was taller than her, though not as tall as Vader, so Padmé stood on her toes and was able to whisper, "Thank you, Ani."  
  
Luke stepped away from her. "What did you call me?"  
  
Tara stepped back a bit from both of them. She continued watching without saying anything.  
  
"I mean, Anakin, sorry," said Padmé.  
  
"How do you know my father's name?" Luke asked. He glanced at Tara for a moment, then stared at Padmé again.  
  
"It's your name, too," Padmé said calmly. "Your real name. But you hated being called 'Ani', so after you turned eight, you asked everyone to start calling you by your middle name. Everyone called you by your middle name when you were a baby, too, but I don't think you remember that."  
  
"Luke," Luke said. It was true. Even when he'd asked everyone to not call him "Ani", they still kept doing it about half the time, so to make it easier for everyone to remember not to call him that, he'd started going by his middle name.  
  
"Who are you?" Tara asked Padmé. She didn't really expect her to give much of an answer.  
  
"I'm wanting to ask you the same question," Luke said, looking at Tara.  
  
"Let's go for a walk," Padmé said suddenly.  
  
"What?" asked Tara.  
  
Padmé shrugged and looked at her and Luke. "I've got to meet my husband, and since my speeder doesn't work, I might as well start walking. You two can stay here if you want, though."  
  
"What? No, it's going to get dark in another hour or so," said Luke. "I'll give you a ride, Star, and then I want to talk to you, Tara."  
  
Tara was quiet.  
  
"Thanks," Padmé said.  
  
"You're welcome. Which way are you headed?" asked Luke.  
  
Padmé pointed in the direction that she and Tara had been riding in, the direction she knew that Luke was sensing Vader from.  
  
"You want to go there?" asked Luke.  
  
"Yeah. What's wrong with it?" Padmé asked.  
  
"Nothing," Luke lied. He had no idea how she knew about his real name and his father's name, but she didn't seem to have any idea that Darth Vader was here. He had to face Vader, anyway. He couldn't keep putting it off. Besides, now that he'd caught up with Tara again, he didn't want to lose her.  
  
They moved the four boxes from Padmé's speeder to Luke's, then started riding. All three of them sat in the front seat of the speeder; with Padmé between Luke and Tara.  
  
"Where's your sister?" Padmé asked Luke.  
  
"You know I have a sister?" asked Luke, although he wasn't extremely surprised, since the woman also knew about his real name.  
  
Padmé nodded. "Yes, of course. Where's Leia?"  
  
"Leia's your sister?" Tara asked Luke.  
  
"Are you some old baby-sitter that used to take care of us or something?" Luke asked Padmé, not answering Tara.  
  
"I used to take care of you, but I'm not a baby-sitter," Padmé said.  
  
Luke nodded, but said nothing. He glanced at Padmé, then at Tara, then continued looking ahead at the path as they rode. 


	13. Chapter Twelve: Blue Eyes

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Twelve ==  
  
"Stop here," Padmé said. "We can just walk the rest of the way."  
  
Luke didn't ask why they couldn't just take the speeder. He slowed it and it stopped. They were outside of one of Naboo's larger cities, though it wasn't Theed. Darth Vader's presence was coming more strongly now. Luke and Tara both started to get out of the speeder, but Padmé said, "Wait."  
  
"What is it?" asked Tara.  
  
Padmé didn't answer her, but gave her a brief hug, then hugged Luke. She softly whispered to him, not caring if Tara heard or not, "Luke, not even I have been able to turn Vader back yet. I need your help. I don't think I can do it without you."  
  
{ Turn Vader - my Master - back? } Tara thought, confused, though she remained quiet.  
  
"How do you know I'm trying to turn him back?" asked Luke. Then again, how had she known everything else - that Leia was his twin sister, and that his real name was Anakin?  
  
"Because, I'm..." Padmé glanced at Tara, then back at Luke.  
  
"You're what?" asked Tara.  
  
"Padmé Amidala Skywalker."  
  
"What..." Tara said softly, her voice trailing off. She thought of the Padmé Amidala memorial.  
  
"She's not lying," Luke said to Tara. He stared at Padmé, both of them did, for a few quiet moments.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Tara.  
  
"You'll find out very soon," said Padmé. "We need to go to the city. Please just come with me."  
  
Luke was about to say that he wanted to know who she was first, which of his relatives, but changed his mind. Padmé's voice sounded so stressed, sad, and somewhat tired now. Luke glanced at Tara for some kind of reassurance, even though he had just as many questions about her as he did about Padmé. She nodded silently. The three of them got out of the speeder and began walking towards the city.  
  
"Your middle name is Shmi," Padmé said to Tara.  
  
"You're right," Tara said softly, without sharply asking how she knew. Padmé now sounded like she wanted to cry, even though her eyes didn't appear to be wet. Luke seemed to detect her sadness, too.  
  
"That's my grandmother's name," he said.  
  
Tara looked at him. "My parents told me that I have a dead grandmother named Shmi."  
  
Luke nodded, but neither of them demanded to know anything from Padmé right now.  
  
-----  
  
The sun was beginning to set when they entered the city. Padmé knew exactly where to go. She led Luke and Tara to an outside area of landing pads that didn't look dark or mysterious; though Luke knew his father would be there. He instantly recognized Vader's shuttle. At one side of the landing pads was a building. The entrance of it was a large, open archway that had no doors. There were about ten Stormtroopers guarding it, though.  
  
Tara now guessed that Vader would be here. She shivered. For some reason, she had the sudden urge to stay close to Luke, something about his presence made her feel just a little safer. She looked at his blue eyes and he looked back into hers for what seemed like a long moment.  
  
{ Blue eyes. } Luke thought. { We both have blue eyes, and we're both blonde... }  
  
The two of them stayed where they were, watching Padmé, who went a few feet closer to the open entrance of the building. And both of them noticed that, when Vader came outside and approached her first before looking at Tara and Luke or speaking to them, her somewhat pale face seemed to brighten a little. 


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Fair Enough

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Thirteen ==  
  
Luke and Tara remained where they were as Padmé went to Darth Vader. She and Vader were too far away to be heard, but Tara and Luke were still sure that she was now in a happier mood. Vader touched her face and seemed to forget, for now, that anyone else was around.  
  
"Tara," Luke said softly, even though they weren't standing close to Vader and Padmé, "I think it's safe for me to tell you, now, that Darth Vader is my father."  
  
"What?" Tara asked, almost forgetting to keep her voice low. "Then who is Padmé?"  
  
"Who are you?" Luke asked. Then he added, "I'm guessing that Padmé is my mother. I thought my mother died, but then again, I also used to think that my father was dead and I didn't have a sister."  
  
Tara nodded.  
  
"Who are you?" Luke asked her again.  
  
Tara looked back at him and, for a moment, almost told him. He would probably find out soon, anyway. But Vader and Padmé had approached them now, and she didn't have a chance to answer.  
  
This was the first time that Vader had seen Tara in person since learning that she was his daughter. He glanced at her for a second, as if he hadn't really studied her before. Although she had his blue eyes and blonde hair, her skin was cool and soft-looking, like Padmé's, and he didn't doubt that her smile would look like Padmé's as well. He probably wouldn't have the chance to see her smile anytime soon, though.  
  
"Father," Luke said.  
  
"Luke. I see you have met my agent," Vader said calmly. Luke and Tara didn't appear to have figured out that they were related, so he didn't want to refer to Tara as Luke's younger sister.  
  
Luke looked at Tara for a second. "That's who you are?"  
  
Tara nodded, but not nervously.  
  
"Luke," Padmé said, speaking as calmly as Vader, "no one is here to fight anyone."  
  
"Then why are we here?" asked Luke.  
  
"A few of the Imperial shuttles aren't working," answered Padmé, "and they won't be fixed for another day or two."  
  
Luke nodded, believing her. He guessed that Vader's shuttle was one of the ones that was being repaired, or else Vader would probably have left Naboo already. Luke looked at Padmé, and knew - even though no one had confirmed it yet - that she was his mother, the way he had just known that Vader was his father, even though he'd refused to believe it when he first heard it. Padmé looked so much like Leia.  
  
"What are you going to do after the shuttles are repaired, then?" Luke asked, both to Padmé and Vader. "Take me to the Emperor?"  
  
"I am going to let you go," Vader said calmly.  
  
Luke thought, at first, that he might have misheard that. But even Padmé, he noticed, looked as if she hadn't expected Vader to say that. She looked at him for a moment.  
  
"Are you serious, Father?" Luke asked.  
  
"Yes," answered Vader.  
  
"May I ask why you're letting me go, after I know you've been searching for me?"  
  
"We will meet again, Luke, and very soon," Vader replied, not directly answering the question.  
  
"I know," Luke admitted. "Is there a catch to this?"  
  
"Tara will accompany you," Vader answered.  
  
"Fair enough," said Luke, glancing at Tara for a moment. She remained silent and didn't return his look. "See you later, then." 


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Figuring It Out

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Fourteen ==  
  
It was nighttime now, the day after Darth Vader had mysteriously let Luke go - with Tara joining him, of course. Padmé hadn't yet asked Vader why he'd done that. She wasn't sure if he'd give her much of a clear answer. But they'd also missed out on a perfectly good chance to at least tell Luke and Tara that they were brother and sister. Padmé knew that Luke probably had too much going on right now to be bothered with chasing after pretty girls, but he might like Tara a little if he didn't yet know that he was her brother.  
  
{ Don't make yourself more stressed. } Padmé told herself. Besides, she had definately gotten the impression that Tara was afraid of Vader. Telling her then that Luke was her brother, in front of Vader, would have been too much for her.  
  
Padmé and Vader were still on Naboo, in the same town where they had been with Luke and Tara yesterday. Tomorrow, whatever problems some of the Imperial shuttles had would be fixed, and they could leave. Not that Padmé was in a hurry to leave Naboo, and she doubted that they would leave as soon as the shuttles were repaired. Vader had told her that he sensed Luke and Tara were still here as well, though not in this same town.  
  
At the moment, Padmé and Vader were right outside the building where they'd spoken with Tara and Luke yesterday. Instead of being worried about their children, and how they were going to deal with the Emperor, Padmé told herself to try and enjoy this night. She and Vader were looking at the night sky together, quite peacefully.  
  
{ Vader knows what he's doing. He let Luke go for a reason. He won't lose him again. } Padmé assured herself.  
  
Vader might have just read that thought. He put one of his arms around Padmé's shoulders. She gave him a small smile and moved closer to him than she already was, and lightly rested her head against his chest. She hoped that he never doubted her whenever she said told him that she didn't care how he looked or that he wore the armor. If she were lying whenever she said that, he would have sensed it, anyway. He surely knew that she meant it. He was her husband; he'd always look handsome to her.  
  
The other day, while they'd been in Vader's chambers on the Star Destroyer, Padmé had thought about softly calling him her "knight in shining armor" or something like that, but wasn't sure if that would sound annoying or not. Plus, there was the "knight" part, as in "Jedi knight".  
  
A memory of Anakin came to Padmé's mind just then.  
  
-----  
  
The two of them were visiting her parents' house on Naboo. They were alone in her bedroom, sitting on her bed. She'd told him earlier, that afternoon, that she thought she was pregnant, and he'd said that he sensed it already, but wanted her to tell him herself, anyway.  
  
Sitting on her bed, it was then that Anakin suddenly but gently slid his arms around Padmé, pulling her close. He whispered "I'm so excited. I can't wait until they're born."  
  
"They?" Padmé asked, surprised. "Am I having twins?"  
  
Anakin smiled at her and kissed her forehead.  
  
-----  
  
"Are you alright?" Vader asked Padmé, bringing her back to the present.  
  
"Yes," answered Padmé. She gave him another small smile.  
  
-----  
  
After walking back to Luke's speeder, which still had Padmé's boxes of holographs in it, Tara had suggested that she and Luke go back to the house where Padmé had gotten the boxes and return them, since she probably wanted them. Since they didn't have anyway to get inside, they left the boxes under a bench in the backyard, in case it happened to rain or something.  
  
Afterwards, they'd left and gone to another city near Theed. Tara didn't want to go to anywhere near the palace. She told Luke that it creeped her out, but didn't mention the Padmé Amidala memorial. Luke didn't seem to want to go near the palace, either.  
  
They had rented a room in a hotel last night, which was where they were now. They could have stayed in Tara's ship, but she hadn't suggested it.  
  
Luke, sitting on one of the room's two beds, told Tara that he wanted to talk to her, and that he supposed she wanted to talk to him, too. Tara nodded and sat next to him, suddenly feeling nervous again.  
  
"So..." Luke said, trying to think of where to begin. "You're my father's agent."  
  
"And Darth Vader is your father," Tara replied.  
  
"Yes," said Luke, liking the beautiful accent in Tara's voice. He remembered her saying that she was from Tattooine, like he was. "And you were following Lando, Leia, Han, and I?"  
  
Tara nodded.  
  
"How did you two meet each other?" Luke asked.  
  
"Vader - my Master and I?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"We're not friends or anything, Luke. I'm terrified of him."  
  
"I know. But how did you meet? How did he find you?"  
  
"It's a long story," Tara said, knowing Luke had probably expected her to say that. She might as well tell him more. "My best friend and I went to a party about two years ago, on my fourteenth birthday, and an accident happened."  
  
"What kind of accident?" asked Luke.  
  
Tara was quiet for a moment, then told him the whole story - sneaking off to Coruscant with Oola, everything that happened at the party, about Aiva and Arika, the Emperor's great nieces, and how someone had freaked out when they saw Stormtroopers outside the hotel, and how Tara had wandered the streets, without knowing what to do, until a few more Stormtroopers had found her and brought her to Darth Vader.  
  
"Wow," said Luke. "You're only sixteen?"  
  
Tara nodded again. "Can I ask you something now?"  
  
"Yes. It's your turn, I guess."  
  
"Were you following Padmé and I? Is that why you showed up when our speeder broke down?"  
  
"Yes," answered Luke. He paused. "I know she's my mother. And Leia is my twin sister."  
  
Tara suddenly stared at him for a moment. "Luke..."  
  
"What is it?" he asked.  
  
"You know those boxes we took to Padmé's house?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Inside one of them are some holographs of a baby. Padmé showed them to me. She told me that she and her husband have two older children - a boy and a girl - that are twins, and that they're twenty-two now..."  
  
Luke nodded. "She has to be my mother, then. Leia and I are twins, and we're both twenty-two."  
  
"Luke..." Tara said again, softly, "she said that the baby in the holographs - the ones she showed me - was her and her husband's youngest daughter."  
  
"What?" Luke asked. "Leia and I have a younger sister?"  
  
"Luke, she told me that their youngest daughter is sixteen now," Tara continued, "and you and I both have a deceased grandmother named Shmi. Isn't that strange?"  
  
Luke said nothing, but stared back at her. Both of them were probably thinking the same thing, even though he wasn't reading her mind right now. Tara was quiet for a second, then finally told Luke everything else that had always bothered her - how she looked nothing like Kitster and Trehna, or like anyone else in her family. Her voice trembled a little as she spoke. Luke listened intently and placed on of his hands on her shoulder.  
  
After she was done, Tara looked at Luke, waiting for him to say something.  
  
"Tara," he said calmly, "you know about the Force, don't you?"  
  
"Yes," she answered.  
  
"Do you know that you're Force-strong?"  
  
"I'm Force-strong?" Tara asked, sounding surprised.  
  
Luke nodded. "You're just as strong as Leia and I, and Vader - Father - obviously knows that. He's never told you before?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You're as strong as Leia and I," Luke said again. He was whispering, even though they were alone in the hotel room. "And you look like me. And Leia looks like our mother. You're our little sister, Tara. I know it."  
  
Tara nodded, and was silent for what seemed like a long time. Finally, she started crying, though she wasn't sure why. She was confused, and happy that she had a sister and a big brother, like she'd already wanted, and surprised, and scared, thinking of her master, Vader, who was her father. Luke pulled her close and held her.  
  
There was much more that Tara still wanted to ask him about, like what he and Padmé had meant when they said something about "turning back" Vader. But she wasn't sure where to start. Luckily, her comlink suddenly beeped. It was Padmé. Tara wasn't surprised that she knew her number, or that her comlink wasn't really broken, as she'd said when she'd come to Tara's apartment on Tattooine.  
  
"Mom," Tara said, trying to make sure that she didn't sound like she'd just been crying. She leaned closer to Luke, so that he could hear the conversation.  
  
"Tara?" asked Padmé. "You just called me 'Mom'?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How do you know that I'm your mother?"  
  
"It wasn't that hard for Luke and I to figure it out."  
  
"I guess not. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier," said Padmé. She paused. "So you know that your father is..."  
  
"Of course," Tara interrupted. "And I know about Leia."  
  
"Good. That's taken care of," Padmé said, sounding relieved. "I was worried that Luke might have a crush on you or something."  
  
"Sick," Tara joked. She managed to laugh, and so did Padmé.  
  
"Is your brother there?"  
  
Tara looked at Luke. He silently shook his head.  
  
"He's taking a shower," Tara lied.  
  
"Oh. Are you two in a hotel or something?" asked Padmé.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Alright. I'll see you soon. I just wanted to see how you were doing."  
  
"Okay. See you later." Tara turned the comlink off. She turned to Luke. "Can we talk some more?"  
  
"Later," said Luke. "We need to calm down a little. Let's go for a walk."  
  
Tara nodded. That sounded like a good idea, and they did need to relax after finding out so much new information just now. She went to the refresher and found a towel to dry her face with - it was still a little wet from her crying just now - and then they left. 


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Out At Night

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Fifteen ==  
  
Tara was glad that Luke had suggested a walk. The night sky was clear, and it wasn't cold outside. Many of the stores and shops were open until at least midnight - and it was barely past evening now - so there were still many other residents and tourists walking around in the plazas.  
  
They sat down together on a bench in one of the plazas.  
  
"Luke," Tara said softly, "can I ask you a question?"  
  
Luke put his arm around her. "I said we'd finish talking about all that stuff later."  
  
Tara nodded quietly, leaning against him. "I wish Leia and Han were here."  
  
"So do I."  
  
"Does Leia know that you're her brother?" asked Tara. "And that...you know...our parents..?"  
  
"Yes," answered Luke. "Before we left the hotel earlier, I called her and left a message on her comlink."  
  
"I can't believe you!" Tara exclaimed, though she laughed. "You left something that big and important on a comlink message?!"  
  
"Yeah. I couldn't think of anything better at the moment," said Luke. "I didn't tell her where we are, though, or that our parents are here, too."  
  
Tara nodded again. She was quiet for a moment, then said, "I was glad to find out that I have a big brother and sister."  
  
Luke hugged her. "And I'm glad to have two little sisters."  
  
==========  
  
Author's Note:  
  
I'm sorry if the updates are a little slower than they used to be. It's only because I have three current stories right now (Princess, Dark Hearts, and this one), and I'm starting another one. I try to get all of them updated at least once a week. Anyway, just letting you guys know that I'm NOT getting bored or tired of my stories or anything.  
  
- DravenStar 


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Good Idea

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Sixteen ==  
  
While Tara and Luke continued to stay on Naboo for now, Darth Vader and Padmé left. Padmé wasn't really bothered. She would have liked to stay near Luke and Tara - and be near Leia, too, of course - but she knew that Vader and Luke could easily find each other, or Vader could just contact Tara.  
  
Padmé and Vader went to Coruscant, to a small castle that Vader owned. Vader assured Padmé that the Emperor was not on or near Coruscant - if he was, they wouldn't have gone there.  
  
Padmé was sitting in a very small room. She closed her eyes and winced as a medical droid gave her a shot of some kind of light-blue fluid. Whatever it was, it would allow her to breathe freely, in one of Vader's chambers, for six hours. Six-and-a-half or seven hours, actually, but Vader probably wouldn't let Padmé stay in there that long. He didn't like to take even small risks with his angel.  
  
After waiting two minutes, Padmé could go into the chamber.  
  
"Thank you," she said softly to the droid. The droid didn't respond, which didn't surprise her. It was rare that any Imperial droids had their own unique, friendly personalities, like C-3PO and R2-D2 did.  
  
A grey door slid open, and Padmé went through it. It led to another tiny room - like the one she'd just been in - which had another door. When this next door opened, she was then inside the chamber.  
  
The chamber was somewhat small, too, about the same size as the egg-shaped one on Vader's Star Destroyer. The lighting was slightly dim, though Padmé could still see clearly. The air was definately different; it was a kind of air that Vader could freely breathe. Padmé felt a bit light-headed at first, but only for a few seconds. The blue fluid she had been injected with seemed to be working well.  
  
Vader was dressed in some black robes. He didn't have his armor or his mask on, and Padmé didn't wonder where they were. She gave him a small smile. He was pleased that she didn't hesitate before sitting down next to him.  
  
"Hey," she said softly, even though it wasn't the first time she'd seen him today. She leaned against him, burying her face against his chest for a moment. It was strange for a moment, since she was used to his armor being there. She was happy, though, to finally be resting her face against his actual chest and skin again.  
  
She silently noticed - from the part of her face that was resting against the exposed part of Vader's chest - that at least part of his chest seemed to be mostly smooth, not scarred. She moved her cheek away for a moment, so that she could look. From the partially-open front of his robes, she saw some of his tattoo. She smiled at Vader.  
  
"When did you get this?" she asked softly, touching the part of the tattoo that said PADMÉ.  
  
"A few days after I visited you," answered Vader, touching her cheek. It was wonderful to really feel her skin and hair again, without wearing gloves.  
  
Padmé sat up a bit more straightly, not leaning against Vader anymore. He reached down and gave her a long kiss, while sliding his arms around her waist and back, pulling her close to him again.  
  
After the kiss ended, it didn't take Padmé long to realize how closely she was pressed to him now. Not that it bothered her. She felt safer here, in his arms, than anywhere else in the entire galaxy. But she did think of something just then.  
  
"Vader," she said, almost whispering, "I don't care that we can't...you know...I mean, it doesn't matter to me..."  
  
"I know it doesn't, Angel," Vader replied. He slid one of his hands under her shirt, rubbing her back.  
  
She was only wearing some black shorts, no shoes, and a red shirt that had two thin straps. The castle had an indoor tanning room that Vader had once used, before he'd had to wear his armor. Padmé had been using the tanning room an hour or two ago, and hadn't bothered to change out of the shorts or put on any shoes. She felt comfortable wearing them, and Vader always thought that she looked happier and more relaxed that way - dressed comfortably, not in ridiculous, fancy gowns. He - Anakin, actually - had said this to her once, and she'd agreed with him.  
  
Vader gave Padmé another long kiss, then briefly kissed the top of her head. He continued rubbing her back, underneath her shirt, for a few seconds, then paused and lifted the edge of the shirt up a little.  
  
"Vader, can you...I mean, we can't..." Padmé said softly, then just let her voice trail off. She didn't try to stop him or anything. She'd sounded only a bit worried, knowing that Vader knew what he was doing.  
  
"You should trust me, Padmé," Vader said. He kissed her again, then kissed her forehead.  
  
"I do."  
  
-----  
  
After their walk last night, Tara and Luke had returned to the hotel room and finally finished discussing everything. Both of them had felt a great sense of relief, getting a chance to speak about their predicaments and problems out loud, with someone else, after having them stuck inside their minds.  
  
Earlier this morning, Leia called Luke's comlink. She hadn't talked much, just letting Luke know that she'd heard all of the serious information that he'd left on his message to her comlink. She'd briefly said hello to Tara, too, but hadn't felt like talking much. She had sounded as if she were more lost and confused than angry. But she told Luke and Tara that she, Han, and Chewbacca would come to Naboo in three or four days. Lando was going to stay with the other Rebels for now.  
  
It was afternoon now. Tara had just taken a shower and sat on the hotel room's bed, drying her wet hair with a couple of towels. Luke came and sat across from her.  
  
"Do you think she'll like me?" asked Tara.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Leia."  
  
"Of course," answered Luke. "Why wouldn't she?"  
  
Tara laughed briefly. "Because I'm Darth Vader's agent and I tracked you guys and lied to you."  
  
Luke shrugged. "You're an agent. You didn't know that we were your brother and sister."  
  
"I know," Tara replied. "But you've been quite forgiving. I'm worried that Leia might not be."  
  
"She will. She's just cautious. You have to be when you're a Rebel, or an agent for Vader," said Luke. He paused, remembering something. "And once, Leia did tell me how she didn't really like being an only child. Her adopted parents didn't have any other children. She said that she used to wish they would, so that she could have a little sister."  
  
Tara smiled. That made her feel better. She suddenly thought of something else, though, and her smile faded.  
  
"What's wrong?" Luke asked.  
  
"I was just thinking," said Tara. "You said that Vader - I mean, our father - wants you to join him and kill the Emperor, so the two of you can rule?"  
  
"Pretty much."  
  
"Well..."  
  
"What?" Luke asked, interested.  
  
"I don't know if this'll work, but," Tara continued, "maybe you should do that before we all try to turn him back to the good side. I mean, if you two at least kill the Emperor and get him out of the way, then we won't have to constantly worry about him. Then we can worry about getting Anakin back."  
  
Luke was quiet for a few seconds, and Tara was scared that he hated her suggestion. But then he said, "That's a very good idea."  
  
"You really think so?"  
  
"Yes. We do need to at least get rid of Palpatine," answered Luke. "As soon as I have a chance to talk to Padmé - Mom - alone, I'll tell her."  
  
Tara nodded. "Please don't tell anyone that it was my idea, though. I don't want our dad to be pissed off at me."  
  
"I won't tell," Luke assured her. He moved closer and gave her a hug. "I'm glad you thought of this." 


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Arika and Aiva

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Seventeen ==  
  
After Tara and Luke agreed to tell Padmé - as soon as they could speak with her alone - about Tara's idea, Tara wanted to go to a nearby café and get a drink. Luke said he wanted to take a nap.  
  
"Alright. Do you want me to bring you anything?" Tara asked.  
  
"No. Just hurry and be back soon," said Luke. He reached down and kissed the top of her head.  
  
Tara hugged him, then left the hotel room.  
  
-----  
  
She went to one of the plazas. Although Luke had told her to be back soon, she always liked to glance at some of the tables and stands that merchants had set up. One that caught her eye was a Twi'lek couple's. They were selling jewelry that seemed to be hand-made.  
  
"Tara!" a voice suddenly called. Tara turned around and saw two girls approaching her. They didn't seem to be much older than her.  
  
"Hey!" said one of the girls. She had green eyes and blonde hair that stopped a few inches below her shoulders.  
  
"Hi..." Tara said softly, not recognizing her, nor the other girl.  
  
"It's me, Aiva," said the blonde girl.  
  
"And Arika," added the other girl. She had green eyes, like Aiva, but her hair was longer and red.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," Tara said. "I haven't seen you since..."  
  
Aiva smiled. "Our sixteenth birthday party that sort of turned into a riot?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"We never intended for that to happen," Arika said in an apologetic tone. "Did Oola tell you that our great-uncle is...?  
  
"The Emperor? Yes," Tara almost whispered, so that no one nearby would overhear.  
  
Arika nodded.  
  
"Did you get out of there safely that night? Were you hurt or anything?" asked Aiva.  
  
"Not very badly," answered Tara. "A couple of Zabraks got into a fight - I'm not sure if you saw it - and broke that huge glass tree. Some pieces of the glass cut me, but that's it."  
  
She definately didn't add the part about her wandering through the streets for a while and eventually meeting Darth Vader.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Aiva.  
  
"Speaking of Oola," said Tara, "do either of you know where she is now? I haven't seen her since that night."  
  
Arika shook her head.  
  
"Sorry," said Aiva. "All I know is that she doesn't live on Tattooine anymore, but you probably already know that."  
  
Tara nodded, and remembered Luke. "I better be going. I'll see you later."  
  
Arika and Aiva each hugged her and gave her their comlink numbers before she left.  
  
-----  
  
The next couple of days passed quickly. Luke and Tara mostly just enjoyed spending time together before they had to deal with all of their serious family matters. Padmé called Tara's comlink a few times to see how they were doing, but they didn't speak to Darth Vader, and Vader didn't contact Tara.  
  
Leia and Han finally arrived on Naboo, along with Chewbacca. Luke assure them both that Vader and Padmé weren't on Naboo right now. Leia had already explained to Han that she, Tara, and Luke were Darth Vader and Padmé's children. 


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Planning

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Eighteen ==  
  
Tara was a little nervous, despite Luke assuring her, again, that Leia wouldn't hate her. She and her older sister were sitting on the hotel's couch, while Luke, Han, and Chewbacca were talking about something in the kitchen.  
  
Tara briefly glanced at Leia, and tried to think of something to say. Fortunately, Leia spoke first.  
  
"How are you?" she asked politely. That was good - maybe she was having trouble thinking of something to say, too.  
  
"I'm alright," Tara said. "Well, I could be better."  
  
Leia smiled. "We all could."  
  
Tara nodded, then finally asked, "Are you mad at me?"  
  
"For what?" asked Leia.  
  
"For tracking you and Luke and the others."  
  
Leia shrugged. "If I worked for Vader...our father, I mean...I would have tracked us, too. You didn't know that you were Luke and I's sister."  
  
She reached over and hugged Tara, adding "And I'm glad that I have a little sister."  
  
"Luke told me that you said you wanted a sister, because your adopted parents didn't have any other kids," Tara replied, hugging her back.  
  
"That's true," Leia said, letting go of her. She was quiet for a second. "Do you have any memories of our mother? Before we met her again, I mean?"  
  
"No, not from when I was little," answered Tara. "What about you?"  
  
Leia shrugged again. "I have a few vague ones. I'm glad to know that she isn't really dead."  
  
"Did your adopted parents tell you that?"  
  
"Yes. I don't know if they were just telling me that, or if they actually believed she was dead. She could have left and disappeared for a while. I don't care, as long as she's back now, and I know the truth about everything."  
  
Tara nodded quietly, realizing that Leia had a point. She herself had been surprised, and also scared, when she'd learned that her master, Vader, was her father...but she had always wondered if she was adopted, and had wanted to know the truth about who she was. Now she did.  
  
Luke, Chewbacca, and Han came over to the couch. They all needed to discuss the new plan - to kill the Emperor and then worry about getting Anakin back - while also remembering not to tell Padmé or Vader that it had been Tara's idea. They also needed to think of how they could discuss it with Padmé alone. She was almost constantly with Vader, which was one reason why she was happy these days.  
  
"Let Tara and I talk to Padmé," Leia said, after Luke explained Tara's idea. "We're the daughters. Vader probably won't think it's strange if we want to talk to Padmé alone for a moment."  
  
"And remember not to tell her that I thought of this thing," said Tara. "I don't want Vader - Dad - to read her mind or something and find out. He'll probably be pissed at me."  
  
"I doubt it," said Luke, "but still, we won't tell anyone that it was your idea."  
  
"What about Vader?" Han said. "Luke, you should talk to him or something while the girls are talking to Padmé."  
  
"And say what?" asked Luke. He agreed with that idea, though, and added, "Alright, I will."  
  
==========  
  
Author's Note: Sorry that this chapter was so short, I just wanted to go ahead and upload something, since I haven't updated in two weeks. 


	20. Chapter Nineteen: Sunset

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
-- NOTE: For some reason, whenever it says "Padmé's" (with an apostrophe s), the é doesn't show up, so it looks like "Padm's". I don't know why, but just letting you know.  
  
== Chapter Nineteen ==  
  
That evening, as the sun began to set, Luke and Tara sat outside on the hotel room's balcony. Chewbacca and Han were inside, along with Leia, who was cooking. Luke glanced at Tara, noticing a sad, distant look on her face.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked her. "Other than our obvious problems, I mean."  
  
"I was just thinking about Oola," answered Tara.  
  
"Your best friend that took you to that party?" Luke remembered.  
  
Tara nodded. "I hope she's alright. As soon as I have a chance, I'm going to find her."  
  
Luke put his arm around her, but didn't say anything. Tara didn't mind. She changed the subject. "Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"You said that you know, for sure, that there's still good in Vader - I mean, our father."  
  
"I do know," Luke said. "Why?"  
  
"What made you find out?" asked Tara. "I mean, I know that you can feel it, but other than that...did he say anything to you to make you think that Anakin's still in there somewhere?"  
  
"He didn't actually say anything," Luke answered, "but if he was totally, purely evil, he would have killed me already. He could have killed me on Bespin, but he didn't. He just let me go. And the other day, when you and I saw him and Padmé - Mom - he let me go then, too. He could have tried to kill me there."  
  
"Well, he let you go as long as I went with along to keep an eye on you," Tara replied. "Plus, Padmé was there. He wouldn't have killed you in front of her."  
  
"Exactly - Padmé," Luke pointed out. "He wouldn't care about her at all if he was totally evil."  
  
"That's definately true," said Tara. She looked out at the sky, which was slowly becoming darker. It reminded her of a another sunset, a while ago, that she'd watched with her master.  
  
-----  
  
It had been a little over five months since Vader had discovered Tara.  
  
Tara was on Coruscant. She was standing on the same walkway where Vader had been waiting when she was first brought to him after the Stormtroopers found her that night, the night of the party. She shivered and looked at the sky. The sun was beginning to set. It would have been more beautiful to watch if Tara was more at peace, and if she were on a more peaceful planet. Coruscant's buildings and air traffic were distracting.  
  
Tara thought of Oola, as she did every day, and hoped that she was okay, wherever she was now. She sighed. Why had they both been dumb enough to go to a party that was held by the Emperor's great-nieces? Not that Arika and Aiva seemed evil at all, but still...it should have been obvious that people would panic when they saw that Stormtroopers were there.  
  
A now-familiar sound slowly came closer; Vader's respirator. Tara hesitated for a second or two before turning and looking at her master. She didn't say anything.  
  
Vader had noticed how Tara always wanted at least three feet of space between him and her, which he understood. He didn't say anything to her at first, and she momentarily glanced over the edge of the walkway again. Her golden-blonde hair seemed to glow, just a little, in the remaining daylight.   
  
Vader sensed her melancholy, lonely mood. She was worried about something or someone - he didn't read her mind to find out what or who. Somehow, despite her blue eyes and blonde hair, she looked much like Padmé, as Queen Amidala, had looked whenever worrying about how she was going to save her planet and defeat the Trade Federation.  
  
Vader silently admitted that Tara was very beautiful - not that he was even considering having any romantic interest with her, of course. But when he had to deal with officers and Stormtroopers every day, it wasn't bad to see a beautiful girl.  
  
-----  
  
"What?" Tara asked softly, coming back to the present. Luke had just said something.  
  
"Leia said that the food's ready," Luke repeated.  
  
"Oh, okay," Tara said. She stood up and followed him inside. 


	21. Chapter Twenty: Cold

Thoughts are inside { } marks.  
  
== Chapter Twenty ==  
  
After waiting a few more days, Luke decided that he should go and confront Darth Vader, without putting it off any longer. He and Tara returned to the small city where they had last met with Vader and Padmé. Leia, Chewbacca, and Han left Naboo, for their safety. Luke instructed Leia to not tell him where they were planning to go. She thought that was weird - especially after they'd agreed that both she and Tara would try to speak with Padmé alone - but she didn't argue.  
  
Luke didn't really want Tara to go with him, either, but he supposed that she should, since Vader had sent her with him. Besides, someone had to talk to Padmé about Tara's idea - which they would actually say was Luke's idea - of defeating the Emperor first, then trying to get Anakin back.  
  
Riding in Luke's speeder, on the way to the small city, Tara and Luke tried to think of a way to get Padmé away from Vader for a few minutes. So far, that seemed to be the only difficult part of their plan. While Tara was with Padmé, Luke would talk to Vader about the two of them getting rid of the Emperor.  
  
"Maybe...," Tara started, still half-thinking, "I can think of some reason for Padmé to need to go to her house - you know, the one where we left her boxes of holographs?"  
  
"No. It takes more than half an hour to go from the city to her house," said Luke. "Vader won't let her stay away that long, and I doubt he'll let her go away somewhere, even if you're with her."  
  
"True," Tara said. She sighed. "I'll just have to think of something before we get there."  
  
"We're almost there now," said Luke. Tara looked up and saw that the small city was already visible in the distance.  
  
She sighed again, and asked, "Why didn't you want Leia to tell you where she and the others are going?"  
  
"I don't know," Luke answered. He sounded as if he probably did have a reason, but didn't want to talk about it. Tara didn't bother him.  
  
-----  
  
Luke and Tara found Vader and Padmé outside of the same building where they'd been last time, when Vader had let Luke go. Luckily, it was Padmé who found a way for her and Tara to speak alone, although she didn't yet know she was helping.  
  
Padmé softly and politely told Tara that she didn't look very well; paler than usual, and asked if she wanted to go inside the building and get something to drink. Tara nodded quietly and went with her.  
  
Padmé touched Vader's hand for a moment and told him that they'd be right back. He didn't object, and Padmé and Tara left him and Luke alone.  
  
Taking an elevator, Tara and Padmé went to the building's third floor, into a large room that had nice, clean-looking blue carpet, but no other decorations, or windows. Padmé told Tara that it was sometimes used for official banquets and dances. There was a door in one corner of the room that led to a kitchen.  
  
Once they were inside, Tara spoke in a quiet, slightly fearful voice, almost like a scared child. "I have to talk to you."  
  
"What is it, sweetheart?" Padmé asked, forgetting about getting either of them a drink. She moved closed to Tara and hugged her.  
  
"Something," said Tara, in a more confident tone"...an idea that Luke had. He wants me to tell you."  
  
"Oh. What is it?"  
  
Tara hesitated, then answered, "He was thinking that he and Vader could defeat Emperor Palpatine - you know, to get him out of the way. He'll tell Vader - Father - that he's going to join him..."  
  
"And then...?" Padmé asked.  
  
"Then, when we won't have to worry about the Emperor, we can focus on bringing Anakin back," Tara finished.  
  
At first, Padmé was silent, and Tara was afraid that she didn't like the idea at all; though she couldn't see why she wouldn't. But finally, she nodded.  
  
"That's a good idea," she said softly. "Is Luke talking to Vader about that now? Getting rid of Palpatine?"  
  
"Yes," Tara answered.  
  
"Let's give them a few more minutes, then," Padmé replied. She paused. "Damn! What happened to those boxes that I left in my speeder the other day, after it broke down?"  
  
"The holographs?" Tara asked. "Luke and I took them back to your house and left them on the porch. They should be fine."  
  
"Thank you," said Padmé, smiling. Then her smile faded. "I really do like Luke's idea. Sorry if I don't seem very happy. But I'm trying not to get excited about it until after the Emperor is dealt with, that's all."  
  
"I understand," Tara told her.  
  
Padmé smiled again and gave her another hug.  
  
-----  
  
Vader must have believed Luke - that he wanted to join him and kill the Emperor. That was true, anyway; it was just that Vader didn't know that afterwards, Luke would try again to turn him back to good. For the next two days, Tara and Padmé safely stayed in Padmé's parents' house. Tara guessed that Padmé's parents - her grandparents, she realized - were probably on some kind of vacation. They still weren't home yet.  
  
Tara and Padmé were joyed when Luke arrived at the house. The two of them were standing outside, not really doing anything, just talking and enjoying the warm evening weather as much as they could while worrying about Luke and Vader.   
  
When the two of them saw Luke coming, they quickly went over and hugged him.  
  
"How did everything go?" Padmé asked, stepping back.  
  
"Is everything alright?" Tara added, still hugging her brother tightly.  
  
"Everything is fine," Luke said calmly, briefly touching Tara's long, golden-blonde hair.  
  
A strange, cautious look suddenly came onto Padme's face, although Tara didn't notice it, and Luke paid no attention. Something seemed wrong. Luke had barely returned her and Tara's hugs; he hadn't done anything other than touching Tara's hair for a moment. He didn't seem very joyed to see them, or relieved about defeating Palpatine.  
  
"Son?" Padmé asked softly. "What's wrong?"  
  
Tara, now catching on to Padmé's sudden worry, now stepped away from Luke and moved to her mother's side.  
  
"Nothing. Everything is fine," Luke said again, in that unusually calm, somewhat...cold, cool voice. "Could we go inside?"  
  
Padmé hesistated, but said, "Alright."  
  
"Are you sure you're alright, Luke?" Tara asked. Luke didn't even answer this time.  
  
Inside the house, they followed Padmé into the living room. It was then that Padmé stopped and shrieked, or wanted to. The sound didn't come out.  
  
Tara stared at Luke for a moment, though she wasn't sure why. He didn't look back at her. She turned and looked at the blonde-haired, blue-eyed man that was standing in the middle of the living room. He was dressed in all black, and was very tall - about as tall as Darth Vader, in fact, and it didn't take Tara long to figure out who he was, even before Padmé finally said something.  
  
"Vader," she whispered. She didn't even ask what had happened to his armor, or why he wasn't scarred and injured anymore.  
  
"Master?" Tara said, barely loud enough to hear. She turned back to Luke. "What happened? I thought you were both going kill the Emperor."  
  
"We did," Luke said in a chilling voice, finally looking at her. Padmé was still staring at Vader.  
  
"What happened?" Tara asked again. "Damn it! Why won't you tell us anything?"  
  
"I joined our father, Tara," Luke said.  
  
Tara, and Padmé, both realized what had happened. The Emperor was gone, finally, and Vader was now the master. Naturally, Luke was his new apprentice.  
  
Outside, in the front yard of the house, it had been so hot that Tara had almost started sweating. Now, the living room felt as cold as an ice cave on Hoth.  
  
== THE END ==  
  
I'm starting the sequel to this story in a couple of days. I know you all probably hate the ending, but I thought it would interesting to have Luke turn to the Dark Side. Anyway, as for the sequel, some of things that will be happening...Leia, Padmé, and Tara trying to turn Luke and Vader back to good, Leia dealing with being seperated from Han (for his own safety), a girl named Mara Jade (this is an AU story, and she won't be the Emperor's Hand) being forced to marry Luke once he chooses her to be his wife, and etc. Hope you will like it :)  
  
- DravenStar 


End file.
